Jade Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by jacquisup
Summary: Sequel to Jade Potter and the Halfblood Prince
1. Chapter 1

9/16/19- 9/17/19

Jade and Henry were in Jade's room thinking about how to contact their family and the Order while they're gone. Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione were taking after Dumbledore instead of their last year of school. Jade's friends had to stay home so they didn't get anything suspicious. Henry and his friends promised to go with her even though they were missing their last year of school.

They had told their family what Dumbledore was doing last year. And that if they want this war to end sooner than the last one they need to get their job done.

They were saying no at first but after Jade telling them that they need to do it they said they could do it.

Sirius is letting them stay at his home to keep them safe. He would stay with James and Lily at in hiding.

Since Dumbledore was gone their secret keeper is McGonagall.

Then Henry came up with an idea.

"I have an idea!" Henry said.

"What?" Jade asked.

"Kreacher! We have him fill everyone in while we're gone! He listens to you like Tweeky does for us all." he said.

"I love your idea!" she said.

While they figured everything out their parents, uncles and Tonks were in the kitchen.

"I can't believe we all agreed with them doing this." Lily said.

"Honestly even I'm shocked. But like Jade said, 'This war needs to end. We know he's made Horcruxes, and with Dumbledore gone it's my job to finish this. It can't be another eleven year long war. Not with Henry being in his last year and me being done with school we're able to use magic outside of school now. We can do this. Me and Hermione have our apperation licenses so we can apperate when we need to and have Ron and Henry hold onto one of us or close.' You know they can do this. They said they're going to tell us when they get the chance and I'm letting them use Grimauld Place as a hideout." Sirius said.

A few minutes later Jade and Henry came to the kitchen.

"We have an idea of how we can contact you. When we're at Grimauld Place we can ask Kreacher to send you the letter. And if we leave we can still call Kreacher to keep you posted." Jade said.

Their parents, Remus, Sirius and Tonks jumped and took out their wands.

"Oh, it's you two." Tonks said.

"Sorry, we came up with an idea." Jade said.

"Alright, sounds like a good plan." Lily said.

"That sounds like a good idea. James said.

After that Jade went to her room and started looking at important things. She was going to keep Hedwig stay here to keep her safe.

Then they wrote down their plans to Ron and Hermione and had Hedwig send it. Then Henry started packing his own important things.


	2. Chapter 2

A few weeks had gone by and they were all at the Burrow getting ready for Bill and Fleur's wedding. It was the day after Jade's birthday and they decided to have a mixture of a birthday and wedding cake.

Three hours until the wedding everyone was getting ready. Jade was inside when she heard something.

"Zip me will you?" Ginny said.

So she started to zipper it when Ginny said something.

"Silly isn't it? Having a wedding at this time."

"Maybe that's why they're having it. To try and cheer everyone up." she said.

Outside the minister appeared.

"Bloody hell, what's the minister of magic doing here?" George asked.

He told them that he wanted to talk to Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione.

"To what do we owe the honor of minister?" Jade asked.

"This." he said with a piece of paper.

"And this is?" Jade asked.

"'The Last Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'... Yes, here we are... 'To Ronald Bilius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it.'"

"Dumbledore left it for me?" Ron said.

Then he opened it and lights were going in it. Then he opened it again and they went back to their lights.

"Wicked."

"'To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive.'"

She took the book and looked at it.

"To Henry James Potter I leave tears of Fawkes, to heal someone when they need it."

He took it and looked at it wondering why he left her some.

"And last, 'To Jade Lily Potter,'" he read, and Jade's insides contracted with a sudden excitement, "'I leave the Snitch she caught in her first Quidditch match at Hogwarts her second year, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill.'"

He handed it to Jade and she put it in her hand. Then she looked at him again.

"Is that it then?"

"Not quite. Dumbledore left you a second bequest, Potter. The sword of Gryffindor. Unfortunately the sword is missing but it belongs to-"

"Jade, it belongs to Jade. It appeared to her when she needed it." Henry said.

"It can come to any Gryffindor that needs it. I don't know what you're up to Ms. Potter but you can't win this war on your own." Then he left.

A few hours later they were celebrating the wedding. Jade was standing there with the snitch next to her. She looked at it and put it in his pocket again.

She saw Ron looking at Hermione and Henry sitting there having some pumpkin juice. Then she saw someone else and was stuck in thought.

"Hello Jade." Luna said. "I just made you lose your thought didn't I? I could see it in your eyes."

"No, how are you Luna?"

"Exceptionally ordinary. I got bit by a gnome a few minutes ago."

"My daughter can be strong. Xenophilius Lovegood." he said and shook her hand.

Luna could tell Jade was trying to do something. "Come daddy, Jade doesn't want to talk to us right now."

She smiled saying thank you silently. Then she headed to a table.

"Excuse me sir, my I sit down?"

"Ms. Potter! Of course." Dodge said.

"I was reading the paper and it seems you know Dumbledore quite well."

"As well as anyone," said Doge, dabbing his eyes with a napkin. "Certainly I knew him longest, if you don't count Aberforth – and somehow, people never do seem to count Aberforth."

"I didn't know Dumbledore had a brother."

"Ah yes, he was always quiet."

"Don't be so sure about that. Bathilda Bagshot knew the Dumbledore's quite well. She was close to the Dumbledore's since they lived in Godric Hollows." Muriel said.

"Godric Hollows, Bathilda Bagshot grew up there?" Jade said.

"That's where she met the Dumbledore's." she said.

"You don't mean they lived there to?"

"Of course they did. Albus grew up there. Honestly my girl, are you sure you knew him at all?" Muriel asked.

Then suddenly a patronus appeared.

"The ministry has fallen. The minister of magic is dead. They're coming, they're coming."

Then it disappeared.

"Nice meeting you Ms. Potter." Then Dodge apperated.

Ron bumped into someone and then people appeared and they started fighting. Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione went to get together.

Then Jade saw George.

"George!"

She was interrupted by Remus.

"GO! GO!"

So Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione grabbed hands and were gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Suddenly they were in a city.

"Where are we?" Ron asked.

"Shocks pray avenue. I used to come to theater here with mum and dad. I don't know why I thought of this it just popped into my head." Hermione said.

So they kept going and headed to a corner.

"We need to change." she said opening her purse.

She and Jade reached into their bags and grabbed each of them some clothes.

"What is that?" Ron asked.

"Undetectable extension charm, Remus tought us over the summer. I put everything in here days ago just in case."

"Same here. Mine has me and Henry's things and Hermione has hers and Ron's." Jade said.

"You're amazing you are." Ron said.

"All of a certain surprise." Hermione said back.

"Alright, get changed, head to Grimauld Place and have Kreacher tell everyone we're safe." Jade said.

"Sounds good." Henry said.

So they got changed under the invisibility cloak and then headed to Grimauld Place.

When they got there they hurried across the street.

"Alright, let's go." Jade said.

When they got there they locked the door and went to the kitchen.

Then they wrote to the Order and told them they're safe at where they were supposed to be.

"Alright Jade, you're the boss of the group now. We have to listen to you." Hermione said.

"Let's just get some rest and then we can figure out what to do tomorrow while Kreacher makes breakfast." she said.

"I don't wanna be on my own, can we sleep here together tonight?" Hermione asked.

Then Ron noticed her wincing tightly.

"What is it? What did you see? Is he at my place?"

"No, I just felt anger – he's really angry –"

"But that could be at the Burrow," said Ron loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"

"No, I just felt anger – I couldn't tell –" Jade felt badgered, confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice,

"Your scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that connection had closed!"

"It did, for a while," muttered Jade; her scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. "I – I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to –"

"But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "That's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind-"

Jade had explained everything they needed to know while they were gone.

"Hermione, Ron, you do remember she's a master of occlumency, right? And besides, she can only feel him not see him." Henry said.

Ron's ears turned bright red.

"Oh yeah."

Hermione's face was as red as his ears.

Then Hermione gasped and Jade turned around with her wand out. Then they saw another patronus.

"Family's safe. In hiding and guarded do not reply with patronus." Then it was gone.

"They're safe, they're all safe!" Hermione said.

Then Jade wrote to the Order and their parents that they made it safely.

"Kreacher!" she called.

Then he came out of nowhere. Sirius had told him about his idea and to call Jade and Henry his Master and Mistress. He could either call Ron and Hermione that to or just their name.

Kreacher liked working for Jade and was glad to help her.

"What can Kreacher do for Mistress Jade and Master Henry?"

"Can you send this letter to our parents please?" Jade said.

"Of course Mistress."

So he took the letter and snapped.

"Alright, why don't we go to bed now?" Hermione said.

They nodded and got ready for bed.

The next day while Kreacher made breakfast Jade read the letter out loud to Henry, Ron and Hermione.

"I know I'll be dead before you read this but I stole the real Horcrux. And intend to destroy it as soon as I can. R.A.B."

"We've got an idea of who it's from." Henry said.

"Who?" Ron asked.

He looked at them all. "Sirius' brother, think about it. Regulus Arcturus Black, R.A.B."

"That makes sense, Sirius had said that they were really close." Hermione said. "So that's gotta be it."

A few seconds later Kreacher appeared with some pancakes, bacon and pumpkin juice for them.

"Thanks Kreacher." Jade said.

"You're welcome Mistress Jade." Kreacher said.

Suddenly an owl appeared.

"Looks like they have an answer for us." Hermione said.

So Henry untied the letter and read it out loud.

_Dear Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione,_

_Thanks for letting us know. We're fine right now like Arthur said. Be careful and continue to have Kreacher keep us posted._

_Mum and dad_

"They're safe to." she said.

"Good, now lets look around the house after breakfast. I'll go in Regular and Sirius' rooms, Henry you look downstairs in the kitchen, Hermione you look in the library and Ron you look in the living room." Jade said.

"Alright." Hermione said.

After breakfast they split up and went to their places. Jade started out with Sirius' room but nothing.

Hermione looked everywhere and every book but got nothing.

Henry looked in the oven, shelves, Kreacher's home but also got nothing.

Ron looked around everywhere in the living room but nothing.

Then Jade went to Regular's room. She looked the closest she could but didn't see or feel anything.

"Hmm, maybe someone got in here before we did when Sirius left to stay at our house." he wondered out loud.

So she double checked but didn't see anything. So she went back downstairs and saw her brother and his at the table.

"No luck either?" she asked.

"No. You?" Henry asked.

"No. I worked the hardest at Regulus' room but got nothing. I do have an idea of what it is though. But we're going to need help." Jade said. "Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and the Kreacher appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace.

"Master Henry, Mistress Jade call Kreacher?" croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog's voice, and he bowed low.

"We've got a question for you," said Jade, her heart beating rather fast as he looked down at the elf, "and I need you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"

"Yes, Mistress Jade," said Kreacher, bowing low again.

"Two years ago," said Jade, "there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"

There was a moment's silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Jade and Henry full in the face. Then he said, "Yes."

"Where is it now?" asked Jade jubilantly as Henry, Ron and Hermione looked gleeful.

Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word.

"Gone."

"Gone?" echoed Henry, elation floating out of him, "What do you mean, it's gone?"

The elf shivered. He swayed.

"Kreacher," said Jade fiercely,

"Mundungus Fletcher," croaked the elf, his eyes still tight

"When Master Sirius left to stay with you Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and – and – "

Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream.

"—and the locket, Master Regulus's locket. Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!"

Jade reacted instinctively: As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, she launched herself upon the elf, flattening him.

Hermione's scream mingled with Kreacher's but Henry bellowed louder than both of them: "Kreacher, stay still!"

He felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes.

"Henry, let him up!" Hermione whispered.

"So he can beat himself up with the poker?" he snorted, kneeling beside the elf next to Jade. "I don't think so. Right. Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"

"Kreacher saw him!" gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran … "

"You called the locket 'Master Regulus's,'" said Jade. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!"

The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.

"Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns … and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve… And one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said … he said …"

The old elf rocked faster than ever.

"… he said that the Dark Lord required an elf."

"Voldemort needed an elf?" Jade repeated, looking around at Henry, Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as he did.

"Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do … and then to c-come home."

Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.

"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake …"

The hairs on the back of Jade's neck stood up. Kreacher's croaking voice seemed to come to him from across the dark water. He saw what had happened as clearly as though he had been present.

"… There was a boat …"

"There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it …"

The elf quaked from head to foot.

"Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible thing … Kreacher's insides burned … Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed … He made Kreacher drink all the potion … He dropped a locket into the empty basin … He filled it with more potion."

"And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island …"

"Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge and he drank from the black lake … and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface …"

"How did you get away?" Jade asked, and she was not surprised to hear herself whispering.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked Jade with his great, bloodshot eyes.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.

"I know – but how did you escape the Inferi?"

Kreacher did not seem to understand.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he repeated.

"I know, but – "

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it, Jade?" said Ron. "He Disapparated!"

"But … you couldn't Apparate in and out of that cave," said Henry, "otherwise Dumbledore –"

"Elf magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it?" said Ron, "I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can't."

"That's right!" Henry said.

There was a silence as Jade and Henry digested this. Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.

"Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his notice … It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't."

"The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher. "Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home …"

"Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly. "You didn't disobey orders at all!"

Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.

"So what happened when you got back?" Henry asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"

"Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then … it was a little while later … Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell … and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord … "

Kreacher knew how to open the concealed entrance to the underground cavern, knew how to raise the tiny boat: this time it was his beloved Regulus who sailed with him to the island with its basin of poison …

"And he made you drink the poison?" said Jade, disgusted.

But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.

Everyone who had already figured it out either looked disgusted, pained or their eyes were filled with tears.

"M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snoutlike nose.

"And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets …"

Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Jade and Henry had to concentrate hard to understand him.

"And he order – Kreacher to leave – without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home – and never to tell my Mistress – what he had done – but to destroy – the first locket. And he drank – all the potion – and Kreacher swapped the lockets – and watched … as Master Regulus … was dragged beneath the water … and …"

"Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying.

She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.

"The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"

"We told you not to call her 'Mudblood'!" snarled Jade, but the elf was already punishing himself.

He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.

"Stop him – stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"

"Kreacher – stop, stop!" shouted Jade and Henry together.

The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snot, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears. Jade had never seen anything so pitiful.

"So you brought the locket home," she said relentlessly, for she was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"

"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf.

"Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work … So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open …Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave …"

Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of

Kreacher's, looked troubled. Jade sat back on her heels and shook her head, trying to clear it.

Jade and Henry looked at each other then back at Kreacher.

"We don't understand you, Kreacher, even though I lived with you a few summers ago," Jade started finally.

"Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them …" Henry continued.

"Jade, Henry, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He's a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," she went on as Harry and Tracey began to protest,

"that Regulus changed his mind … but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he?"

"And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all."

"Sirius is pretty nice to him."

"Sirius isn't as good as his brother to Kreacher, Jade, and it's no good looking like that, you know it's true. I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did … and Sirius could treat him a little better."

Jade and Henry looked at each other again and nodded.

"Kreacher," said Jade after a while, "when you feel up to it, er … please sit up."

It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccupped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.

"Kreacher, I am going to ask you to do something," said Henry.

They glanced at Hermione for assistance. He wanted to give the order kindly, but at the same time, he could not pretend that it was not an order. However, the change in his tone seemed to have gained her approval: She smiled encouragingly.

"Kreacher, we want you, please, to go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket – where Master Regulus's locket it. It's really important. We want to finish the work Master Regulus started, we want to – er – ensure that he didn't die in vain." Jade said.

Kreacher dropped his fists and looked up at Jade.

"Find Mundungus Fletcher?" he croaked.

"And bring him here, to Grimmauld Place," said Jade. "Do you think you could do that for us?"

As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet, Jade had a sudden inspiration. He pulled out Hagrid's purse and took out the fake Horcrux, the substitute locket in which Regulus had placed the note to Voldemort.

"Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," he said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand.

"This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you—" Jade said.

"Overkill, Jade," said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back onto the ground.

A few hours later Jade was in the process of lowering the newspaper when a deafening crack echoed around the kitchen.

For a split second, she did not take in the mass of struggling limbs that had appeared out of thin air right beside her chair. She hurried to her feet as Kreacher disentangled himself and, bowing low to Jade, croaked,

"Kreacher has returned with the thief Mundungus Fletcher, Master and Mistress."

Mundungus scrambled up and pulled out his wand; Hermione, however, was too quick for him.

"Expelliarmus!"

Mundungus's wand soared into the air, and Hermione caught it. Wild-eyed, Mundungus dived for the stairs. Ron rugby-tackled him and Mundungus hit the stone floor with a muffled crunch.

"What?" he bellowed, writhing in his attempts to free himself from Ron's grip.

"Wha've I done? Setting a bleedin' 'house-elf on me, what are you playing at, wha've I done, lemme go, lemme go, of –"

"You're not in much of a position to make threats," said Jade.

She threw aside the newspaper, crossed the kitchen in a few strides, and dropped to his knees beside Mundungus, who stopped struggling and looked terrified.

Ron got up, panting, and watched as Jade pointed her wand deliberately at Mundungus's nose. Mundungus stank of stale sweat and tobacco smoke. His hair was matted and his robes stained.

"Kreacher apologizes for the delay in bringing the thief, Master, Mistress," croaked the elf. "Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices. Nevertheless, Kreacher cornered the thief in the end."

"You've done really well, Kreacher," said Henry, and the elf bowed low.

"Right, we've got a few questions for you," Jade told Mundungus.

"Why the 'ell am I being 'unted down by 'ouse-elves? Or is this about them goblets again? I ain't got none of 'em left, or you could 'ave 'em –"

"It's not about the goblets either, although you're getting warmer," said Jade. "Shut up and listen."

It felt wonderful to have something to do, someone of whom he could demand some small portion of truth. Jade's wand was now so close to the bridge of Mundungus's nose that Mundungus had gone cross-eyed trying to keep it in view.

"When you came out this house of anything valuable when Sirius left," Jade began, but Mundungus interrupted her again.

"Sirius never cared about any of the junk –"

There was the sound of pattering feet, a blaze of shining copper, an echoing clang, and a shriek of agony; Kreacher had taken a run at Mundungus and hit him over the head with a saucepan.

"Call 'im off, call 'im off, 'e should be locked up!" screamed Mundungus, cowering as Kreacher raised the heavy-bottomed pan again.

"Kreacher, no!" shouted Jade.

Kreacher's thin arms trembled with the weight of the pan, still held aloft.

"Perhaps just one more, Mistress Jade, for luck?"

"We need him conscious, Kreacher, but if he needs persuading, you can do the honors," said Henry.

"Thank you very much, Master, Mistress," said Kreacher with a bow, and he retreated a short distance, his great pale eyes still fixed upon Mundungus with loathing.

"When you stripped this house of all the valuables you could find," Jade began again, "you took a bunch of stuff from the kitchen cupboard. There was a locket there."

Jade's mouth was suddenly dry: He could sense Henry, Ron and Hermione's tension and excitement too.

"What did you do with it?"

"Why?" asked Mundungus. "Is it valuable?"

"You've still got it!" cried Hermione.

"No, he hasn't," said Ron shrewdly. "He's wondering whether he should have asked more money for it."

"More?" said Mundungus. "That wouldn't have been effing difficult . . .bleedin' gave it away, di'n' I? No choice."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"I was selling in Diagon Alley and she come up to me and asks if I've got a license for trading in magical artifacts. Bleedin' snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an' told me she'd take it and let me off that time, and to fink meself lucky."

"Who was this woman?" asked Jade.

"I dunno, some Ministry hag." Mundungus considered for a moment, brow wrinkled. "Little woman. Bow on top of 'er head."

He frowned and then added,

"Looked like a toad."

Jade dropped her wand: It hit Mundungus on the nose and shot red sparks into his eyebrows, which ignited.

_"Aquamenti!"_ screamed Hermione, and a jet of water streamed from her wand, engulfing a spluttering and choking Mundungus.

Jade looked up and saw her own shock reflected in Ron's and Hermione's faces.

"This isn't going to be fun or easy." Ron said.


	4. Chapter 4

Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione were hiding behind a wall outside. Waiting for some people from the ministry.

Then Ron saw an assistant in the Improper Use of Magic Office. He used his wand and silently used the stunning spell.

Jade was behind her and caught her before she fell. Ron ran across the street and then they carried her over to the wall.

Hermione took peace's of hair from each person and put some in the potion.

"Right, try and act normal. Then we can go to the ministry."

"This is completely mental." Ron said.

"Completely." Hermione said.

After they drank the potion they got out of the room. Then they headed to the ministry.

When they got to where they have to go to get there they split up and headed down to the bathroom.

When it was their turn Hermione looked at Jade.

"We flush ourselves here?"

Jade nodded.

"That's bloody disgusting!"

So Jade stepped in and pulled the string. Then was gone.

When she got to the ministry she waited for Ron and Henry. Henry and Ron headed to Jade and Hermione.

Then they saw stone people.

"Are those?" Henry started.

"Muggles, in their, rightful place." Hermione said.

"How long did you say this polyjuice potion going to work Hermione?" Jade asked.

"I didn't." she said.

They passed through the gates and into a smaller hall, where queues were forming in front of twenty golden grilles housing as many lifts. They had barely joined the nearest one when a voice said,

"Cattermole!"

Then he stopped the door.

"It's still raining in there." Yaxley said.

"You can try in an umbrella." 'Ron' said.

"You realize that I am on my way downstairs to interrogate your wife, Cattermole?"

Then Yaxley left.

"Oh my god! My wife's all alone downstairs! What am I gonna do?" he said.

"Ron, you don't have a wife." 'Jade' said.

Henry fought laughing the best he could.

"Oh, right. But how am I supposed to stop it raining?"

"Try Finite Incantatem." Hermione said.

"Level 4." the elevator said.

"This is you Ron." Hermione said.

"Right, Finite Incantatem, and if that doesn't work?"

But they were gone before they could answer.

"I say that if we don't find Umbridge we find Ron and try again on a different day." Jade said.

"Deal." Hermione and Henry said together.

Then the door opened again and saw Umbridge.

"Ah Mathilda, good, we'll go right down."

Then she looked at Jade and Henry.

"Albert, Jane, aren't you getting out?"

Then they walked out and looked at Hermione. She looked scared.

When Jade got to her floor she headed to Umbridge's office.

Henry dropped something that they stole from the Weasley twins. Then the room started to explode.

While the room was hard to see Jade and Henry headed to Umbridge's office.

When they got there they strode straight over to the door to examine the eye. It was not moving. It gazed blindly upward, frozen.

The plaque beneath it read:

Dolores Umbridge

Senior Undersecretary to the Minister

Below that a slightly shinier new plaque read:

Head of the Muggle-Born

Registration Commission

Then they turned to face the room again, Jade raised her wand, and murmured,

_"Accio Locket."_

But got nothing.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Henry said.

"Let's start looking around." Jade said.

So they started looking around.

Jade opened the desk and found a list of people.

Arthur Weasley

Blood Status:

Pureblood, but with unacceptable pro-Muggle leanings. Known member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Family:

Wife (pureblood), seven children, two youngest at Hogwarts. NB: Youngest son currently at home, seriously ill, Ministry inspectors have confirmed.

Security Status:

TRACKED. All movements are being monitored.

Strong likelihood Undesirable No. 1 will contact (has stayed with Weasley family previously.

James Potter

Blood Status:

Pureblood, but with unacceptable pro-Muggle leanings. Known member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Family:

Wife (muggleborn), two children, youngest at Hogwarts. NB: Youngest son currently at home, seriously ill, Ministry inspectors have confirmed.

Security Status:

IN HIDING.

Strong likelihood Undesirable No. 1 will contact (has stayed with Weasley family previously.)

"Undesirable Number One," she muttered under her breath as she replaced her father's folder and shut the drawer. She straightened up and glanced around the office for fresh hiding places she saw a poster of herself on the wall, with the words UNDESIRABLE NO. 1 emblazoned across his chest. A little pink note was stuck to it with a picture of a kitten in the corner. Jade moved across to read it and saw that Umbridge had written, "To be punished."

Then she saw Dumbledore, Hermione and Mad-Eye.

"Any luck?" Henry asked.

"No, you?" Jade asked.

"No."

"Alright, let's get back to find Ron."

He nodded and then left.

When they got there they saw Ron coming in.

"Morning." Ron said.

"Ron, it's us." Jade said.

"Jade! Henry! Blimey, I forgot what you look like." he said. "Where's Hermione?"

"She's gone down to the court room. With Umbridge." Henry said.

When they got there Jade and Henry stood there quietly.

"Mary Elizabeth Cattermole," Umbridge started.

"Yes." Mary said.

"It's here." Jade said.

"Mother to Maisie, Ellie and Alfred; Wife to Reginald?"

"Regi." she said.

Henry pushed him out and he walked over to Mary.

"Thank you, Albert. Mary Elizabeth Cattermole."

"Yes?"

"A wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry Mrs Cattermole. Is this that wand?"

She nodded.

"Would you please tell the court, from witch or wizard you took this wand?"

"No one. I bought it in Diagon Alley, by Ollivanders, when I was 11. It chose me."

"You are lying. Wands choose only witches, and you're not a witch."

"But I am. Tell them, Reg, tell them I am."

Jade stood there then took out her wand and Umbridge noticed.

"What on Earth are you doing, Albert?"

"You are lying, Dolores. One must not tell lies. _Stupefy!_"

When Hermione grabbed the locket Jade and Henry started to change back. Jade put her glasses back on.

"It's Jade and Henry Potter!" someone said.

Then they started running.

"It is them. Its okay to tell the kids." Ron said.

When they got to the elevator the door shut. Then Jade took out her wand when something started to come.

_"Expecto patronum!"_ Jade yelled when the door was shut and dementors came.

When it was gone and they were downstairs Jade, Henry, Hermione, Ron and Mary started to leave.

Ron stopped and looked at Mary.

"Mary. Go on home. Take the kids I'll meet you there. We have to leave the country, do you understand? Mary, do as I say." Ron said.

Then she kissed him and he turned back into Ron Weasley.

"Mary? Who is that?" Regi said.

Ron looked at him then Mary.

"Long story... Nice meeting you." he said.

"It's Jade and Henry, Jade and Henry Potter!

The four of them started to run to the flew networks and grabbed Hermione's hand since she was first. Then they were somewhere outside.

Jade and Henry sat up and heard something.

"Jade, Jade quickly in my bag. Essence of Dittany." Hermione said.

Henry went and looked at Ron.

Jade looked inside and didn't see it.

"Quickly!"

_"Accio Dittany!"_

She caught it, stood up and then tossed it to Henry who was looking at Ron.

"Hermione his arm." he said.

"I know but just do it!"

Henry handed her the dittany while Jade grabbed the locket.

"OK, it's gonna, it's gonna sting a little." she said.

Henry stood up and looked around.

"Where are we? Aren't we supposed to be at Grimauld Place?" Jade said.

"We have a secret keeper!" Henry said.

"I know but Yaxley had hold of me and we were getting close so before we got to close I brought us here. But, Ron got splined!" she said.

Then she stood up and took out her wand.

"_Protego Totalum. Salvia Hexi."_

"What are you doing?" Jade asked.

"Protective enchantments. I do not want a repeat of what happened at Shaftesbury Avenue, do you? Get going with a tent." she said.

"Tent?" Jade said.

_"Protego Totalum._" Hermione continued.

"Where are we supposed to find a tent?" Henry asked.

Then they looked at her purse and back at each other.

So they went and grabbed it and started to make the tent.

"Good thing we'd go camping when we were kids." Jade said.

"Yeah, thank Merlin she's a muggleborn." Henry said.

When they were done Henry helped Hermione get Ron in the tent and Jade carried the bags.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day they were outside with the locket.

"You first." Hermione said to Jade.

_"Incendio!"_ she said.

But it didn't work.

_"Incendio."_ Hermione tried.

That didn't work ether.

_"Expulso!"_ Henry said.

Still didn't work.

_"Diffindo!"_ Jade said.

Then she focused more than usual on her core and used more strength.

_"Reducto!"_ she said.

She sighed so she went and put it on her neck.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"We have to keep it safe." she said.

"Isn't it strange. Dumbledore tells you to do something but doesn't tell you how." Ron said.

Then Jade just looked at him.

A few hours later Jade was outside on watch and picked up the locket.

While she looked at it she heard something familiar from sixth year.

'You know the spell Jade.'

Then her scar burst into pain and she locked the connection as tightly as she could.

_She could still hear it in her._

_"Tell me, Gregorovitch."_

_"He stole it from me."_

_"Who was it? The thief?"_

_"The boy. It was he who took it. I never saw it again I swear on my life."_

_"I believe you. Avada Kedavra!"_

_Then she stopped hearing things._

"I thought it stopped." Hermione said.

"You know she can only hear it. Not see it." Henry said.

"Voldemort found Gregorovitch." she said.

"This Wand Maker?" Henry said confused.

"He wants something that Gregorovitch used to have. I don't know what. But he wants it desperately. As if his life depended on it."

Then the radio said something and she was about to go shut it off.

"Don't, it's his comfort zone." Hermione said.

"It sets my teeth on edge, What's he expecting to hear? Good news?" Jade said.

"One can only hope not to hear bad news." she said.

"How long before he can travel?" she asked.

"I'm doing everything I can." she said.

"You are not doing enough!" she said.

"Take it off!" Hermione said.

"She said, Take it off, now!" Henry said.

So she took it off and handed it to Henry.

"Better?" he asked.

"Right." she said.

"We will take in turns, okay?" he said handing it to Hermione.

Later that night while Hermione was on night shift and reading her book. Then she heard something and looked up.

She saw people walking by.

When they were gone Jade and Henry walked up to her.

"Snatchers." Hermione said.

"We know. He had some with the last war. We were five when it ended. Our parents were homeschooling us at the time for safety." Henry said.

"Good to know that your enchantments work." Jade said.

"He could smell it, my perfume." she said.

They started to talk about what to do now.

"I told you two, Ron isn't strong enough for apperating." Hermione said while they started walking.

"Well then, we'll go on foot and then go back to Grimauld Place when he's healed." Jade said.

Ron stepped outside a bit and listened.

"And next time Hermione, don't use perfume." Henry said.


	6. Chapter 6

While they started moving Ron would get angry and see Hermione with Jade and Henry.

While they were on a hill Hermione handed Jade a water bottle.

"Thank you."

She took a few sips and handed it to Henry.

"Thanks." he said.

As they walked around Ron would listen to the radio and slowly get healed.

One day while they were in the woods Ron was sitting next to Hermione while Jade was next to Henry.

"She doesn't know what we're doing does she?" Ron said.

"None of us do." Hermione said.

Later that night Hermione was cutting Jade's hair, Ron was fully healed and Henry was on his shift.

"Oh my god." Hermione said.

Then stopped and stood up.

"What?" Jade asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute, call Henry." she said.

So she went outside and told him to go inside.

So he stood up and went inside.

"What?" she asked.

"The sword of Gryffindor, it's goblin made." she said.

"OK?" Henry said.

"We're looking for a way to destroy Horcruxes right? Jade destroyed one second year, Tom Riddle's diary."

"With a basilisk fang. If you have one of them in that bag of yours I already know I don't."

"Don't you two see? In The Chamber of Secrets Jade stabbed the Basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor Its blade is impregnated with basilisk venom."

"It only takes in that which makes it stronger!" Henry said.

"Exactly, which is why,"

"It can destroy Horcruxes." Jade said.

"That's why Dumbledore left it to you in his will." Hermione said.

"You're brilliant, Hermione. Truly." Jade said.

"Actually, I just highly logical thinking, which allows to me see past and irrelevant details ... and perceived cleary which others overlook." she said.

"Yeah, there is only one problem. Someone stole the sword." Henry said.

Then some of the light was gone and they looked at Ron.

"Yeah, I'm still here. But you three carry on. Don't let me follow the fun." Ron said.

Then Jade sat on the other side of the bench.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong. At least for you three." he said.

"Well if you have something you want us to hear spit it out." Henry said.

"Alright I'll spit it out. Now that we're going to have to find another damn thing."

"I thought you knew what you signed up for?" Jade said.

"Yeah, I thought I did to."

"Well then we're sorry but we don't know what you think is wrong." Henry said.

The two of them may not be as close as they once were but they're still brother and sister. Henry swore to stay with her all the way after protecting him all six years he was there as a thank you.

"I only thought that you would have told us something that would help. I thought Dumbledore told you something!"

"I told you what Dumbledore told us! And In case you haven't noticed we have found a horcrux already." Jade said.

"Yeah but we've only found one of the other five horcruxs we need to find." he said.

Hermione looked at Ron and thought of something.

"Ron, please take off the horcrux, you wouldn't be saying anything if you took it off." she said trying to get it off.

Ron moved her over.

"You know why I listen to the radio so much? I listen to out to hope I haven't lost Ginny, Fred, or George or mum."

"You don't think we know how it feels?!" Jade yelled.

"NO YOU DON'T know how it feels! All your family's alive! You have your family! And besides, you hate your parents!" Ron yelled.

Jade stood there quietly for a few seconds.

"We do know what it's like! We almost lost our parents when I was two and Henry was one during the first war! The only family we have are our parents, Uncle Moony and uncle Padfoot! Our aunt, uncle and cousin hate magic so obviously they're not part of the family! Uncle Wormy turned his back on us, our grandparents are gone to, both mum and dad's parents! Unlike your family we only have seven biological family members and two unbiological members!" Jade yelled back.

"If you can't take it leave! And besides, I don't hate them! I just don't like them and would rather live with Sirius but I stayed to protect them!" Jade yelled.

Then Ron took the locket off and looked at Hermione.

"And you two? You coming or staying?"

Henry stood next to Jade.

"I'm staying." he said seriously. "After protecting me for the past six years I owe her. Hell, all three of us owe her!"

Hermione looked back and forth. "I, I'm with Ron."

All three of them were shocked. Then Jade and Henry stared at each other for a second.

"Fine, go run away with Weasley." Jade said.

"You're going to regret this, we can tell." Henry said.

Then Ron and Hermione left the room and apparated somewhere.

"Alright, we'll stay here for the night and then think of somewhere else to go. Sound good?" Jade said.

"Sounds good. Do you think he might have something at Godrics Hollow?" Henry asked.

"Maybe, I'll write it down. Thank Merlin we can use magic outside school and I have my apparation license." she said.

"Ron doesn't have his does he?" he asked.

"No, only you and Hermione do I don't have mine. I'll take the shift while you take the locket. Sound good?"

She nodded and put it on her neck while Henry went outside.

"I have an idea of where one might be." Jade said.

"Where?" Henry asked.

"Hogwarts. He considered Hogwarts his home. He lived in an orphanage remember? A muggle Orphanage to."

"He did didn't he? I'll write it down." he said.

"Alright."

Then a letter appeared out of nowhere. A letter in form of an owl.

It fell on Jade's hand.

They looked at each other.

"That's mum. Everyone knows she's good at Charms." Henry said smiling.

So she opened the letter and read it out loud.

_Dear Lightning, Chess King, Bookworm and V-Boy,_

_The letter we gave you are only opened by your team. To everyone else it's invisible like the map. That was your father's idea, and for once a good one._

_They started laughing for a few minutes then he continued._

_It will only open for you four and us. We all came up with names for us to use. The names are,_

_Lee Jordan- River_

_Fred- Rodent_

_George- Red Head_

_Kingsley- Royal_

_Lily- Charmed_

_James- pointer_

_Sirius- fur ball_

_Remus- Romulus_

_Harry- Lightening_

_Henry- V-boy_

_Hermione- Bookworm_

_Ron- Chess King_

_That way no one knows what it is to be safe. Keep writing to us and be careful. Get back where you were soon to. You know we have a secret keeper and who it is._

_Charmed_

They looked at each other and laughed even harder.

"Pointer?" Jade said.

"Fur Ball?" Henry said.

"Charmed?" they said together.

They looked around and Jade used the silence charm even though they're hiding.

"I hope no one finds out. I mean, everyone knows mum is great at Charms." she said.

"And dad and Uncle Padfoot are registered now. They got each other registered after the first war." she said.

"Uncle Wormy didn't because he was put in Azkaban. But I'm pretty sure dad, uncle Moony and uncle Padfoot told them that they were all animagi."

"Probably. Alright, let's write back to them."

Jade nodded and undid the silence charm. Then they headed back inside and started writing.

_Dear Charmed, Pointer, Fur Ball and Romulus,_

_We're in hiding right now. While we were looking around we were under Polyjuice potion and started to transform back into our true self. We were in the ministry and grabbed by Yaxley on our way there so Bookworm took us somewhere else. We've been looking for something else and planned on going back home tomorrow. But Chess King, me and lightning got into a fight and he and Bookworm left us. So we're on our own. We're still going to go back tomorrow. We're going to call Fur Ball's elf and have him bring us back. One thing we heard was that we have a taboo for you-know-who. So say that, he-who-must-not-be-named or Tom. We tried that and it worked so me and V-Boy say Tom. Hopefully Chess King and Bookworm will be back soon. We're going to have the elf bring us back so that we don't have to worry about being caught. Lightning and Bookworm worked on undetectable charms and put our things in our bags. I have mine and Lightning's things and Bookworm has her's and Chess King's stuff with her. We'll let you know when we get back home. Be careful and we'll do the best we can._

_Lightning and V-Boy_

They looked at the letter and nodded.

"Alright, that sounds good." Henry said.

So Jade formed something to send the others.

"Hopefully this will work." Henry said.

"I finished school last year Henry, remember?" Jade said.

"Oh yeah." he said a little red.

"We need to find a way to get the sword. But how?" Jade said.

"We'll think of something." he said.

Then Jade went on her shift and Henry went to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day they checked everything to make sure they don't forget anything.

"Alright, got everything in your bag?" Jade asked.

"Yup."

"Alright then, KREACHER!" she called.

Then there was a snap.

"Mistress Jade call Kreacher?" he said.

"Yes, is Grimauld Place still in hiding?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Alright, can you please take us back?" Jade said.

"Yes Mistress Jade, Master Henry. Hold onto Kreacher's hand."

So they held on and a few seconds later they were back in Grimauld Place.

"Ahh. Much better. Thanks Kreacher." Henry said.

"Would Mistress Jade and Master Henry like Kreacher to make lunch?"

"Yes please Kreacher." Jade said.

So he went to make lunch and Jade and Henry went to go unpack in their rooms.

"After lunch I'm taking a shower." Henry said.

"Same here. Thank Merlin there's more than one bathroom." Jade said.

So they headed downstairs and had some chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese.

"I think we should go to Godrics Hollow tomorrow." Jade said.

"Alright. Let's bring our bags with us just in case we need to stay in hiding." Henry said.

"Alright. Let's get some sleep and leave after dinner tomorrow." she said.

He nodded in agreement.

So they went to bed.

The next day after dinner they told Kreacher they were going somewhere and didn't know if they were going to be back after.

They had packed everything up while Kreacher made breakfast.

So they took hands and apparated to Godrics Hollow.

When they got there they were at the graveyard.

"Jade, I think it's Christmas Eve." Henry said looking around.

Then they saw the graveyard. They looked at each other and nodded. So they headed there and looked at people from the first war and the past.

Henry was looking at one with snow on it and then saw the Deathly Hollows sign. Then pushed more snow and saw Ignotus on it.

"Hey Jade?" he called.

He turned around and was about to say something but saw someone looking at them.

"Henry someone's watching us and I think I know who it is." she said.

He looked up and saw them.

So they followed her and saw their old house.

They looked at it and remembered what happened.

Then Jade saw something outside the door

On this spot, on this night of 31 October 1981, their son, Henry, and daughter Jade remain the only wizard and witch ever to have survived the Killing Curse. Their son is the first wizard ever to survive the killing curse while their daughter survived after the safe of her brother. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family.

And all around these neatly lettered words, scribbles had been added by other witches and wizards who had come to see the place where the Boy-Who-Lived and his sister had escaped. Some had merely signed their names in everlasting Ink; others had carved their initials into the wood, still others had left messages. The most recent of these, shining brightly over sixteen years' worth of magical graffiti, all said similar things.

Good luck, Henry, wherever you are.

If you read this, Jade, Henry, we're all behind you!

Long live Jade and Henry Potter.

Henry picked up his wand and switched the parts of it saying Henry had survived the killing curse to their daughter and from the Boy-Who-Lived to the Girl-Who-Lived the way it should be. Then they followed her inside.

"Here let me do that." Jade said while she tried to light a candle.

She followed her upstairs. When they got there she saw the locket and then looked at her.

"Miss - Bagshot?" she said, and his voice shook slightly. "Who is this?"

"You are the Potters?" she whispered.

"Yes, we are."

She nodded slowly, solemnly.

Then she closed her eyes and several things happened at once: Jade's scar prickled painfully; the Horcrux twitched so that the front of her sweater actually moved; the dark, fetid room dissolved momentarily. She felt a leap of joy and spoke in a high, cold voice: Hold her!

Jade swayed where she stood: The dark, foul-smelling room seemed to close around her again; she did not know what had just happened.

"Over here," she whispered, pointing to the corner.

Jade raised her wand and saw the outline of a cluttered dressing table beneath the curtained window.

This time she did not lead her. Jade edged between her and the unmade bed, her wand raised.

"What is it?" she asked as she reached the dressing table, which was heaped high with what looked and smelled like dirty laundry.

"There," she said, pointing at the shapeless mass.

And in the instant that she looked away, her eyes taking the tangled mess for a sword hilt, a ruby, she moved weirdly: She saw it out of the corner of her eye; panic made her turn and horror paralyzed her as she saw the old body collapsing and the great snake pouring from the place where her neck had been.

The snake struck as she raised her wand: The force of the bite to her forearm sent the wand spinning up toward the ceiling; its light swung dizzyingly around the room and was extinguished;

Then a powerful blow from the tail to his midriff knocked the breath out of her: She fell backward onto the dressing table, into the mound of filthy clothing - She rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the snake's tail, which thrashed down upon the table where she had been a second earlier. Fragments of the glass surface rained upon him as he hit the floor. From below she heard Henry call, "Jade?"

She could not get enough breath into her lungs to call back: Then a heavy smooth mass smashed him to the floor and he felt it slide over her, powerful, muscular -

"No!" she gasped, pinned to the floor.

"Yes," whispered the voice.

"Yesss... hold you ... hold you ..."

_"Accio ... Accio Wand ..."_

But nothing happened and she needed her hands to try to force the snake from her as it coiled itself around her torso, squeezing the air from her, pressing the Horcrux hard into her chest, a circle of ice that throbbed with life, inches from his own frantic heart, and her brain was flooding with cold, white light, all thought obliterated, her own breath drowned, distant footsteps, everything going... and now she was flying, flying with triumph in her heart, without need of broomstick or thestral...

She was abruptly awake in the sour-smelling darkness; Nagini had released him. She scrambled up and saw the snake outlined against the landing light: It struck, and Henry dived aside with a shriek; his deflected curse hit the curtained window, which shattered. Frozen air filled the room as Jade ducked to avoid another shower of broken glass and her foot slipped on a pencil-like something - her wand –

She bent and snatched it up, but now the room was full of the snake, its tail thrashing; Henry was nowhere to be seen and for a moment Jade thought the worst, but then there was a loud bang and a flash of red light, and the snake flew into the air, smacking Jade hard in the face as it went, coil after heavy coil rising up to the ceiling. Jade raised her wand, but as she did so, her scar seared more painfully, more powerfully than it had done in years.

"He's coming! Henry, he's coming!" As she yelled the snake fell, hissing wildly.

Everything was chaos: It smashed shelves from the wall, and splintered china flew everywhere as Jade jumped over the bed and seized the dark shape she knew to be Henry- he shrieked with pain as he pulled his back across the bed:

The snake reared again, but Jade knew that worse than the snake was coming, was perhaps already at the gate, her head was going to split open with the pain from her scar –

The snake lunged as she took a running leap, dragging Henry with her; as it struck, Henry screamed,

_"Confringo!"_ and his spell flew around the room, as usual barely strong enough, bouncing from floor to ceiling.

Glass cut her cheek as, pulling Henry with her, she leapt from bed to broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness, her scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair...

She was Voldemort and he was running across the fetid bedroom, his long white hands clutching at the windowsill as he glimpsed the bald man and the little woman twist and vanish, and he screamed with rage, a scream that mingled with the girl's, that echoed across the dark gardens over the church bells ringing in Christmas Day...

And his scream was Jade's scream, his pain was Jade's pain... that it could happen here, where it had happened before... here, within sight of that house where she had come so close to knowing what it was to die ... to die ... the pain was so terrible ... ripped from his body ... But if he had no body, why did her head hurt so badly; if she was dead, how cold she feel so unbearably, didn't pain cease with death, didn't it go ...

_The night wet and windy, two children dressed as pumpkins waddling across the square and the shop windows covered in paper spiders, all the tawdry Muggle trappings of a world in which they did not believe ... And he was gliding along, that sense of purpose and power and rightness in him that he always knew on these occasions ... Not anger ... that was for weaker souls than he ... but triumph, yes ... He had waited for this, he had hoped for it..._

_"Nice costume, mister!"_

_He saw the small boy's smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his pained face: Then the child turned and ran away ... Beneath the robe he fingered the handle of his wand ... One simple movement and the child would never reach his mother ... but unnecessary, quite unnecessary..._

_And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last, the Fidelius Charm broken, though they did not know it yet..._

_And he made less noise than the dead leaves slithering along the pavement as he drew level with the dark hedge, and steered over it ..._

_Jade, Henry, James and Lily were in the living room playing._

_When the woman said words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face._

_James stood up and stretched his arms then put Jade on his hip while Lily put Henry in her arms._

_Then he heard something so he put Jade back on the ground and headed to the door._

_"LILY! IT'S HIM! TAKE THE KIDS AND GO!"_

_So they ran upstairs and heard something. Then the door was burst open._

_"No! Not them! Take me, I'll do anything!" Lily said._

_"Stand aside, stand aside you silly girl!"_

_"Please, NOT THEM!"_

_"This is my last warning."_

_Before she could say anything she was hit with the stunning spell._

_'Now, which one? I'll just kill them both.' "AVADA KADAVRA!"_

_And then after the girl went in front of the boy he broke. He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped screaming, but far away ... far away ..._


	8. Chapter 8

"No," she moaned.

The snake rustled on the filthy, cluttered floor, and she had killed the girl, and yet she was the girl...

"No..."

And now she stood at the broken window of Bathilda's house, immersed in memories of her greatest loss, and at her feet the great snake slithered over broken china and glass... She looked down and saw something... something incredible...

"No..."

"Jade, it's all right, you're all right!"

She stooped down and picked up the smashed photograph. There she was, the unknown thief, the thief she was seeking...

"No... I dropped it... I dropped it ..."

"Jade, it's okay, wake up, wake."

She was Jade... Jade, not Voldemort ... and the thing that was rustling was not a snake ... She opened her eyes.

"Jade," Henry whispered.

"Do you feel all - all right?"

"Yes," she lied.

She was in the tent, lying on one of the lower bunks beneath a heap of blankets. She could tell that it was almost dawn by the stillness and quality of the cold, flat light beyond the canvas ceiling. She was drenched in sweat; he could feel it on the sheets and blankets.

"We got away."

"Yes," said Henry. "I had to use a Hover Charm to get you into your bunk. I couldn't lift you. You've been ... Well, you haven't been quite ..."

"You've been ill," he finished. "Quite ill."

"How long ago did we leave?"

"Hours ago. It's nearly morning. I gave you the phoenix tear Dumbledore gave me when you got hit by Nagini."

"Thanks. And I've been... what, unconscious while you did that?"

"Not exactly," said Henry uncomfortably. "You've been shouting and moaning and ... things," she added in a tone that made Jade feel uneasy.

"I couldn't get the Horcrux off you," Henry said, and she knew he wanted to change the subject. "It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You've got a mark; I'm sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake bit you too, but I've cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it ..."

"Where've you put the Horcrux?"

"In your bag. I think we should keep it off for a while."

She lay back on her pillows and looked into her pinched gray face.

"We shouldn't have gone to Godric's Hollow. It's my fault, it's all my fault. Jade, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I wanted to go too; I really thought Dumbledore might have left the sword there for us." he said.

"Yeah, well ... we got that wrong, didn't we?"

"What happened, Jade? What happened when she took you upstairs? Was the snake hiding somewhere? Did it just come out and kill her and attack you?"

"No." she said. "She was the snake ... or the snake was her ... all along."

"W-what?"

She closed her eyes. She could still smell Bathilda's house on him; it made the whole thing horribly vivid.

"Bathilda must've been dead a while. The snake was... was inside her. Tom put it there in Godric's Hollow, to wait."

"The snake was inside her?"

She opened her eyes again. Henry looked revolted, nauseated.

"Uncle Moony said there would be magic we'd never imagined." Jade said.

Henry thought of something that could've been how she was a human but kept it to herself.

"She didn't want to talk in front of you, because it was Parseltongue, all Parseltongue, and I didn't realize, but of course I could understand her. Once we were up in the room, the snake sent a message to Tom, I heard it happen inside my head, I felt him get excited, he said to keep me there ... and then ..."

She remembered the snake coming out of Bathilda's neck: Henry did not need to know the details.

"...she changed, changed into the snake, and attacked."

She looked down at the puncture marks.

"It wasn't supposed to kill me, just keep me there till Tom came."

She sat up and threw back the covers.

"Jade, no, I'm sure you ought to rest!"

"You're the one who needs sleep. No offense, but you look terrible. You used enough strength to give me some of yours. I'm fine. I'll keep watch for a while. Where's my wand?"

He did not answer, he merely looked at her.

"Where's my wand, Henry?"

He was biting his lip.

"Jade ..."

"Where's my wand?"

He reached down beside the bed and held it out to her.

The holly and phoenix wand was nearly severed in two.

One fragile strand of phoenix feather kept both pieces hanging together. The wood had splintered apart completely. Jade took it into her hands as though it was a living thing that had suffered a terrible injury. He could not think properly: Everything was a blur of panic and fear. Then she held out the want to Henry.

"Mend it. Please."

"Jade, I don't think, when it's broken like this -"

"Please, Henry, try!"

_"R-Reparo."_

The dangling half of the wand resealed itself. Jade held it up.

_"Lumos!"_

The wand sparked feebly, then went out. Jade pointed it at Henry.

_"Expelliarmus!"_

Henry's wand gave a little jerk, but did not leave her hand. The feeble attempt at magic was too much for Jade's wand, which split into two again. She stared at it, aghast,

"Jade." Henry whispered so quietly he could hardly hear her. "I'm so, so sorry. I think it was me. As we were leaving, you know, the snake was coming for us, and so I cast a Blasting Curse, and it rebounded everywhere, and it must have - must have hit -"

"It was an accident." said Jade mechanically. "We'll - we'll find a way to repair it."

"Well," she said, in a falsely matter-of-fact voice, "well, I'll just borrow yours for now, then. While I keep watch."

Henry handed over his wand, and she left him sitting beside her bed.


	9. Chapter 9

While she sat outside she saw a patronus. A doe.

"That can't be mum, she doesn't know where we are."

So she stood up and followed it.

When she got there she looked down and saw a lake. When the light was gone it was over part of the ice.

She brushed the snow off some of it and saw the sword.

Then she looked on her left then right but saw nothing.

_"Accio sword!"_

But it didn't work. So she looked back and forth again and then said.

_"Defindo!"_

The ice cracked enough for him to go down. So she started to undress and then went down.

While she was down there she felt the locket start to chock her. While she tried to stop it she heard footsteps.

A few seconds later there was a different sound. When he was about to pass out she felt someone pull her out of the water.

When she got out she started to cough. Then she put her glasses on.

"Henry?"

"Are you mad?!"

"Ron? Hermione?"

"Well yeah, who did you think it was?" Ron said.

"It was one of you, one of you made a patronus." she said.

"No we thought that was you?" Hermione said.

"No my patronus is a dog like Sirius."

"Oh, right." Ron said.

When she was all dressed up she took the locket off and put it in front of them.

Hermione had gone behind a tree so that she didn't have to worry about something hitting her.

"OK then, do it Ron." Jade said.

"I can't. I can't do it." he said.

"Then why did you two come back? Why are you here?"

Ron stood there quietly for a few seconds.

"I'm going to open it," said Jade, "Don't hesitate because whatever's in there will put up a fight. The bit of Riddle in the Diary tried to kill me."

"How are you going to open it?" asked Ron. He looked terrified

"I'm going to ask it to open, using Parseltongue," said Jade.

"Ready?"

He nodded and took out the sword.

"Alright, One . . . two . . . three . . ._open._"

Behind both of the glass windows within blinked a living eye, dark and handsome as Tom Riddle's eyes had been before he turned them scarlet and slit-pupiled.

"Stab," said Jade, holding the locket steady on the rock.

Ron raised the sword in his shaking hands: The point dangled over the frantically swiveling eyes, and Jade gripped the locket tightly, bracing herself.

Then a voice hissed from out the Horcrux.

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine."

"Don't listen to it!" Jade said harshly. "Stab it!"

"I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible..."

"Stab!" shouted Jade, her voice echoed off the surrounding trees, the sword point trembled, and Ron gazed down into Riddle's eyes.

"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . ."

"Ron, stab it now!" Jade bellowed:

She could feel the locket quivering in the grip and was scared of what was coming. Ron raised the sword still higher, and as he did so, Riddle's eyes gleamed scarlet.

Out of the locket's two windows, out of the eyes, there bloomed like two grotesque bubbles, the heads of Jade and Hermione, weirdly distorted.

Ron yelled in shock and backed away as the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root, swaying over Ron and the real Jade, who had snatched his fingers away from the locket as it burned, suddenly, white-hot.

"Ron!" she shouted, but the Riddle-Jade was now speaking with Voldemort's voice and Ron was gazing, mesmerized, into its face.

"Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence... We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption-"

"Presumption!" echoed the Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione: She swayed, cackling, before Ron, who looked horrified, yet transfixed, the sword hanging pointlessly at his side. "Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Jade Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Girl-Who-Lived?"

"Ron, stab it, STAB IT!" Jade yelled, but Ron did not move.

His eyes were wide, and the Riddle-Jade and the Riddle-Hermione were reflected in them, their hair swirling like flames, their eyes shining red, their voices lifted in an evil duet.

"Your mother confessed," sneered Riddle-Jade, while Riddle-Hermione jeered, "that she would have preferred me as a daughter, would be glad to exchange..."

"Who wouldn't prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him," crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and entwined herself around Riddle-Jade, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.

On the ground in front of them, Ron's face filled with anguish. He raised the sword high, his arms shaking.

"Do it, Ron!" Jade yelled.

Ron looked toward her and Jade thought she saw a trace of scarlet in his eyes.

"Ron -?"

The sword flashed, plunged: Jade threw herself out of the way, there as a clang of metal and a long, drawn-out scream. Jade whirled around, slipping in the snow, wand held ready to defend herself, but there was nothing to fight.

The monstrous versions of herself and Hermione were gone:

There was only Ron, standing there with the sword held slackly in his hand, looking down at the shattered remains of the locket on the flat rock.

When it was gone Hermione walked over to them and sat next to them.

"One down. Only four to go." Ron said.

A few minutes later they were back with the tent. Jade had told them what they had done while they were gone.

"Henry? Henry!" Jade called.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine, actually it's more than fine."

Then she showed him the two people.

Henry was furious at both of them.

"You two, complete awful Weasley and Granger! You two had been gone for weeks and you say hey?"

Then he looked at Jade.

"Where's my wand Jade? Where's my wand?"

"I don't know."

"Jade Potter you give me my wand!"

"I don't have it!" she said and put it in her pocket.

"How come she's got your wand?" Hermione asked.

"It doesn't matter why he's got my wand!" Then he looked down. Then looked at Jade.

"What is that? You destroyed it! And how is you just happen to have the sword of Gryffindor?"

The three of them looked at each other.

"It's a bit of a long story." Jade said.

"Don't you two think this is change of anything."

"Of course not. I just destroyed a bloody horcrux!" Ron said.

"When we realized what we did we tried to find you but didn't know where you would have gone." Hermione said.

"Yeah how did you find us?" Jade asked.

"It was dark out and we had no idea where we were when I felt something in my deluminater." Ron said.

"Which would be what?" Henry asked.

"Both you're name. Jade and Henry." he said.

They stood there quietly for a few minutes. Then Jade said something.

"Right, why don't we get changed into something dry and sped the night here." Jade said.

The other three nodded and went inside.

A few hours later Hermione was on her shift and Jade, Ron and Henry were sitting inside.

"How long are you gonna take to forgive me?" Ron asked.

"I'm fine with it, Henry on the other hand. He's not happy." Jade said trying not to laugh.

"Bloody hell, you need a wand don't you?" Ron asked looking at Jade.

"Yeah." she said.

"I've got one here." He then handed it to him. "Ten inches."

Jade putted the wand at the fire.

_"Ingoshio."_

Then the fire got enormous and the three of them jumped.

_"Reduco!"_ she yelled.

"What's going on in there?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing!" Jade said and put the wand in her pocket.

"We need to talk." Hermione said.

"Alright then." Ron said.

"I want to see Xenophilius Lovegood." Hermione said.

"Why?" Jade asked.

"You see this mark? It's on the book again."

Then she shut the book.

"Look, I have no idea where the next horcrux is and neither do you."

"It was on his necklace to. The one he was wearing at the wedding." Jade said.

"Let's make a vote, all those in favor?" Ron said.

The three of them looked at him.

"Let's just do it." Henry said.

"Alright." Jade said.

So they packed everything up and then apperated to Mr. Lovegood.

When they got there they looked at the door.

"Luna." Hermione said.

"Luna." the other three said.

When they got there they knocked on the door.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Xenophilius said.

Then Jade walked up to the door.

"Hello, Mr. Lovegood," said Jade, holding out her hand,

"I'm Jade, Jade Potter."

"And I'm Henry, Henry Potter."

Xenophilius did not take Jade's hand, although the eye that was not pointing inward at his nose slid straight to the scar on Jade's forehead.

"Can we come in?" Jade said.

So he opened the door and got them some tea.

They picked it up and sat down.

"Where's Luna?" Hermione asked.

"Luna? She'll be along soon." he said.

"Now," he remove a tottering pile of papers from an armchair and sat down, his Wellingtoned legs crossed, "how may I help you, Ms. Potter?"

"Well," said Jade, glancing at Hermione, who nodded encouragingly, "it's about that symbol you were wearing around your neck at Bill and Fleur's wedding, Mr. Lovegood. We wondered what it meant."

Xenophilius raised his eyebrows.

"Are you referring to the sign of the Deathly Hallows?"

Jade turned to look at Henry, Ron and Hermione. None of them seemed to have understood what Xenophilius had said either.

"The Deathly Hallows?" Henry asked.

"That's right," said Xenophilius. "You haven't heard of them? I'm not surprised. Very, very few wizards believe. Witness that knuckle-headed young man at your brother's wedding," he nodded at Ron,

"who attacked me for sporting the symbol of a well-known Dark wizard! Such ignorance. There is nothing Dark about the Hallows – at least not in that crude sense. One simply uses the symbol to reveal oneself to other believers, in the hope that they might help one with the Quest."

He stirred several lumps of sugar into his Gurdyroot infusion and drank some.

"I'm sorry," said Jade, "I still don't really understand."

To be polite, she took a sip from his cup too

"Well, you see, believers seek the Deathly Hallows," said Xenophilius, smacking his lips in apparent appreciation of the Gurdyroot infusion.

"But what are the Deathly Hallows?" asked Hermione.

Xenophilius set aside his empty teacup.

"I assume that you are familiar with 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'?"

"Yes." they all said. Xenophilius nodded gravely.

"Well, you all know the whole thing starts with 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'... I have a copy somewhere . . ."

He glanced vaguely around the room, at the piles of parchment and books, but Hermione said, "I've got a copy, Mr. Lovegood, I've got it right here."

And she pulled out The Tales of Beedle the Bard from the small, beaded bag.

"The original?" inquired Xenophilius sharply, and when she nodded, he said, "Well then, why don't you read it out aloud? Much the best way to make sure we all understand."

"Er. . . all right," said Hermione nervously. She opened the book, and Harry saw that the symbol they were investigating headed the top of the page as she gave a little cough, and began to read.

_"There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight –'"_

"Midnight, our mum always told us," said Ron, who had stretched out, arms behind his head, to listen. Hermione shot him a look of annoyance.

"Sorry, I just think it's a bit spookier if it's midnight!" said Ron.

"Yeah, because we really need a bit more fear in our lives," said Jade before she could stop herself.

Xenophilius did not seem to be paying much attention, but was staring out of the window at the sky.

"Go on, Hermione."

_"In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure._

_"'And Death spoke to them –'"_

"Sorry," interjected Henry, "but _Death_ spoke to them?"

"It's a fairy tale, Henry!"

"Right, sorry. Go on."

_"'And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of the three new victims, for travellers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him._

_"'So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother._

_"'Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead._

_"'And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.'"_

_"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Jade interrupted again._

_"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking . . . sorry, Hermione."_

_"'Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so talking with wonder of the adventure they had had and admiring Death's gifts._

_"'In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination._

_"'The first brother travelled on for a week more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible._

_"'That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat._

_"'And so Death took the first brother for his own._

_"'Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him._

_"'Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her._

_"'And so Death took the second brother from his own._

_"'But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.'"_

Hermione closed the book. It was a moment or two before Xenophilius seemed to realize that she had stopped reading; then he withdrew his gaze from the window and said:

"Well, there you are."

"Sorry?" said Hermione, sounding confused.

He picked up a quill from a packed table at his elbow, and pulled a torn piece of parchment from between more books.

"The Elder Wand," he said, and drew a straight vertical line upon the parchment.

"The Resurrection Stone," he said, and added a circle on top of the line.

"The Cloak of Invisibility," he finished, enclosing both line and circle in a triangle, to make the symbols that so intrigued Hermione.

"Together," he said, "the Deathly Hallows."

"Mr. Lovegood, does the Deathly Hallows have anything to do with the Peverill brothers?" Henry asked.

"Yes, Ignotus, and his brothers Cadmus and Antioch were the original owner of the hallows ... and therefore inspiration for the story." Xenophilius.

"Your tea has gone cold." Jade said.

"Don't go I'll be right back?" Xenophilius said.

"Let's get out of here. I have more of this brndy pi? I will not." Ron said.

"Thank you for ..." Hermione said.

"You forgot the water." Henry said.

"Water?"

"In the tea." Ron said.

"How silly of me." he said.

"You do not have to, we should be going any way." Henry said.

"No, you do not!" Xenophilius.

"Sir?" Jade said.

"You are my only hope. They were angry, you see, because of what I've been writing. so they took ... took my children."

"Who took her, sir?"

"Voldemort."

Then snatchers appeared out of nowhere.

So the four of them held hands and ended up on a different place.


	10. Chapter 10

A few seconds later they were somewhere else.

"That bloody trader! Is there no one we can trust?" Ron asked.

Then a few snatchers appeared.

"Hello beautiful. Don't just hang back Snatch them!"

While they were running Hermione aimed some spells at them and then saw Jade.

She aimed a spell on him that caused his face to become swollen and then he was on the ground.

_When he got down he heard someone he's familiar with._

_"Tell me Grindward. Tell me, where it is." Voldemort said._

_"I knew that one day you come. But surely as you know. I no longer have what you seek." Grindelwald said._

_"I believe you Grindelwald, tell me where it is Tell me who posseses it." Voldemort demanded._

_"The elder wand lies with him of course... Buried in the earth with Dumbledore."_

_"Avada Kedevera!" Voldemort said after hearing that._

Then he was gone and Hermione was sitting in front of him.

"The hallows exist. He is only after one... the last one He knows where it is. He's gonna have it by the end of the night? You know who's had the elder wand."

Then a snatcher grabbed on to Hermione.

"Do not touch her!" Ron said.

"Your boyfriend will get much worse for that if he doesn't learn to behave himself."

Then he looked at Harry.

"And what happened to you, ugly?"

Someone else looked at him while Harry looked at him.

"No, not you." he said to Jade.

"What is your name?"

"Dudley. Petunia Dudley."

"Check it. And you him and ugly, lovely? What do they call you?"

"Penelope Clearwater. Half blood." Hermione said.

"There is no Vernon Dudley on here."

"You hear that ugly? This means you're lying to us. Why did not you tell us? Who you are?"

"Do you have a mistake, I already told you who I am." Jade said.

Then he looked closer at Jade and saw his scar.

"Change of plan. We are not taking this lot to the Ministry."

When they got to their destination they were at Malfoy Manor.

"Get Draco." Bellatrix said.

"Well?" she asked when he was there.

"I can't be sure." Malfoy said.

He knew it was Jade but didn't want anything to happen to his best friend. Lucius and Narcissa knew to.

"Look closely, son. If we are the ones who hand Potter to the Dark Lord... everything would be forgiven, it would all be as it was understood?" Lucius said pushing him a little.

"Now we won't be forgetting who really caught him ... I hope Mr. Malfoy."

"Don't dare to talk to me like that in my own house?!"

"Lucius!" Narcissa said.

"Do not be shy, come closer! If this isn't who you think it is Draco ... and we will call Him, He'll kill us all. We need to be absolutely sure!" Bellatrix said.

"What's wrong with her face?" Malfoy asked.

"Yes, what is wrong with his face?" Bellatrix asked.

"We captured him like that. Something he captured in the forrest I reckom That happens during a stinging jinx Was it you."

"Give me your wand, let's see what your last spell was."

She looked at it and then saw the sword from Hermione's purse.

"What's that? Where did you get that from?" Bellatrix asked.

"It was in her bag when we searched her I reckon its mine now."

"Are you mad? Get out!...Get out! Cissy ... hold those boys and girl in the basement! I'd like a conversation with this one... girl to girl!"

So they pushed the other three down to the basement.

"What are we gonna do? We can't leave Hermione alone with her!" Ron said.

"Ron? Henry? Jade?"

"Luna?" Henry said.

Then they heard Hermione screaming.

"We have to do something?!" Ron said.

"There is no way out of here. We tried everything. It's enchanted." Mr. Olivander said.

Jade bent down and pulled out the glass.

"You are Bleeding Jade, its a curious thing to keep on yourself." Luna said.

"Help us!" she said.

"Let her go!" Ron said.

"Get Back! You Goblin, come with me." Wormtail said.

A few minutes after he left Dobby came.

"Dobby?" Jade said.

"What are you doing here?" Henry said.

"Dobby has come to rescue Jade and Henry Potter! Dobby will alwyas be there for Jade and Henry Potter." Dobby said smiling.

"You say that you can apparate out of this room?" Henry asked.

"Can you take us with you?" Jade asked.

"Of course, I'm a elf." he said.

"No clear." Ron said.

"Well, Dobby, take Luna and Mr. Ollivander, please." Jade said.

"Take them to shell cottage its near the sea. Trust me." Ron said.

"When you're ready, sir." Luna said.

"Sir? I like her very much!" Dobby said.

Then he took Luna and Olivander in both hands.

"Meet me at top of the stairs in ten seconds."

A few seconds later the door opened again.

For a split second Wormtail gazed into the apparently empty cellar, ablaze with light from the three miniature suns floating in mid-air. Then Jade, Henry and Ron launched themselves upon him. Ron seized Wormtail's wand arm and forced it upwards. Jade slapped a hand to his mouth, muffling his voice.

Silently they struggled: Wormtail's wand emitted sparks; his silver hand closed around Jade's throat.

Jade could barely breathe.

"You're going to kill me?"

Jade choked, attempting to prise off the metal fingers.

"After I saved your life? You owe me, uncle Wormy!"

The silver fingers slackened.

Jade had not expected it: She wrenched herself free, astonished, keeping her hand over Wormtail's mouth.

She saw the rat like man's small watery eyes widen with fear and surprise: He seemed just as shocked as Jade at what his hand had done, at the tiny, merciful impulse it had betrayed, and he continued to struggle more powerfully, as though to undo that moment of weakness.

"And we'll have that," whispered Ron, tugging Wormtail's wand from his other hand.

Wandless, helpless, Pettigrew's pupils dilated in terror. His eyes had slid from Henry and Jade's face to something else. His own silver fingers were moving inexorably toward his own throat.

"No –" they said together.

Without pausing to think, Jade and Henry tried to drag back the hand, but there was no stopping it.

The silver tool that Voldemort had given his most cowardly servant had turned upon its disarmed and useless owner; Pettigrew was reaping his reward for his hesitation, his moment of pity; he was being strangled before their eyes.

"No!" they said together.

Ron had released Wormtail too, and together he and Harry tried to pull the crushing metal fingers from around Wormtail's throat, but it was no use. Pettigrew was turning blue.

_"Relashio!"_ said Ron, pointing the wand at the silver hand, but nothing happened; Pettigrew dropped to his knees, and at the same moment, Hermione gave a dreadful scream from overhead. Wormtail's eyes rolled upward in his purple face; he gave a last twitch, and was still.

"Uncle Wormy." they whispered together.

After that they started to go upstairs.

They stood there quietly and listened to what Bellatrix was saying to Hermione.

"I guess I'll just have to use Crucio on you for you to tell me."

"Like hell. _Expelliarmus!_" Ron said.

_"Stupefy!"_

"Stop!" Bellatrix said with Hermione around her. Her wand on Hermione's neck.

"Drop your wands."

They just stood there.

"I said, drop them!"

Then they dropped their wands.

"Pick em up, Draco, now! Well well well ... Look who we have here. Its Jade and Henry Potter. Whole bright shiny and new Just in time for the Dark Lord. Call him."

Lucius pulled his sleeve and was about to call him when they heard something. They all looked up. Then a lamp started to fall and almost land on Bellatrix.

"Ahh! Stupid elf! You could have kill me?!" she said.

"Dobby never meant to kill. Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure." Dobby said.

Then Bellatrix took out her wand but Dobby snapped his finger and caught her wand.

"How dare you take a witch's wand? How dare you defy your masters?" she shouted.

"Dobby has no master! Dobby is a free elf ... and Dobby has come to save Jade and Henry Potter and their friends!" he said.

Then Jade grabbed the three wands.

_"Stupefy!"_

Then they grabbed Dobby and started to apparate. While he did that Bellatrix threw her dagger at him.

When they were gone the dagger was gone to.


	11. Chapter 11

A few seconds later they were outside Bill and Fleur's house. Jade stood up and headed to Hermione, Ron and Henry.

"Hermione! Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded.

"We are safe. We are all safe." she said wrapping his arms around her.

"Jade Potter..." Dobby said.

"Dobby!" Jade said.

"That would be fine ..." Dobby said.

"Hold on. Hold on. Hold on, yes? We are going to fix it. Hermione, the dittany ... in your purse Hermione! Hermione! Help me!" she said and looked at her.

"It's so beautiful than alone... with you here as friends. Dobby is Happy ... that may be with his friends ... Jade and Henry Potter."

Then he laid there in silence and still.

"We should close his eyes." Luna said.

She closed his eyes.

"There. Now he could be sleeping." she said.

Jade looked up.

"I want to bury him... Properly, without magic."

So she grabbed a shovel and started.

When she was done Hermione passed him Dobby and he put him down. Then he filled the whole and Jade and Henry stood there quietly.

Jade took out her wand and wrote, 'Here lies Dobby a free elf'

They sighed quietly.

"Thanks for the help Dobby. We'll never forget you." Tracey said.

"Yeah, thanks Dobby." Jade said.

So they all headed to the cottage.

Later that day Jade, Ron, Henry and Hermione were talking to each other.

"Think he'll help us?" Hermione asked.

"I hope so. Mr. Olivander won't be that hard. Griphook will be hard though." Jade said.

"We'll think of something. Even if it takes money." Henry said.

They all nodded and then Jade headed to Bill.

"We need to talk to the goblin." he said.

So Bill took them to the goblin and then left.

"How are you?" Henry said.

"Alive." Griphook said.

"You probably don't remember-" Jade started but was cut off.

"That I showed you to your vault when you two were eleven? Even goblins know about you now Jade Potter." he said.

Then he looked at the sword.

"How did you come by the sword?" Giphook asked.

"It's complicated. Why did Bellatrix Lestrange think that it should be in her vault at Gringotts?" Jade said.

"It's complicated." Henry said.

"The sword presented itself to us, in moment of need." Hermione said.

"We didn't steal it." Ron said.

"There is a sword in Madam Lestrange's vault identical to this one. But it is a fake. It was placed there this past summer.

And she never suspected it was a fake. The replica is very convincing. Only a goblin would recognize that this is the true Sword of Gryffindor." Griphook said.

"Who is the acquaintance?" Hermione asked.

"A Hogwarts Professor. As I understand that he's now Headmaster."

"Snape." Ron said.

"He put a fake sword in Bellatrix's vault."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"There are more than a fewcurious things in the vaults at Gringotts."

"And in Madam Lestrange's vault as well?" Henry asked.

"Perhaps."

"We need to break into a Gringotts vault." Jade said.

"It is impossible." Griphook said.

"Alone yes, with you, no." Henry said.

"And what will I get in return if I were to help you?"

"We have gold. Lots of it." Henry said.

"I'm not interested in gold." he said.

"Then what?" Jade asked wincing.

Her scar had been hurting for a while and she fought her hand from rubbing it. She keeps her mind locked full time now. At school and at home.

"That." Griphook pointed to the sward. "That is my prize."

When they left they shut the door and looked at each other while Fleur was in Mr. Olivander's room.

"You think there's a Horcrux in the Lestrange vault?" Ron asked.

"Yes, we all know that she's one of Tom's favorite and best followers. So who else would he trust enough to put one in?" Jade said.

"And she was scared that we had been in there. She kept asking you what you'd taken." Henry said.

"Another piece of his soul. Let's find it, kill it, and we are one step closer to killing him." Jade said.

"And what happens when we find it, How're we supposed to destroy it, now you're giving the sword to Griphook?" Hermione asked.

"We're still working on that part." Henry said.

"He's weak." Fleur said.

The three of them nodded and walked in.

"Mr. Ollivander I need to ask you a few questions." Jade said.

"Anything, m'boy. Anything!" he said.

Jade took out the wand and handed it to him.

"Would you mind identifying this wand? We need to know if it's safe to use." Henry said.

"Uhh... Walnut Dragon Heartstring Unyie... Unyielding. This belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange. Treat it carefully." he said handing it back.

"And this?" Henry said handing him the next one.

"Hawthorn. An unicorn hair. Reasonably pliant. This was the wand of Draco Malfoy."

"Was? Is it not still?" Jade said confused.

"Well, perhaps not. If one of you won it from him. I sense its allegiance has changed." Mr. Olivander said.

"You talk about wands, as if they have feelings... can think!" Henry said.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. That much has always been clear to those of us who've studied wandlore." he said.

"And, what do you know about the Deathly Hallows?" Hermione asked.

"It is rumored there are three. The Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibility, to hide you from your enemies... and the Resurrection Stone, to bring back loved ones from the dead. Together, they make one the Master of Death. But, few truly believe that such objects exist."

"Do you? Do you believe they exist, sir?" Hermione said.

"Well... I see no reasons to put stock into an old wives' tale."

"You're lying! You know one exists. You told him about it.

You told him about the Elder Wand... and where he could go looking for it." Jade said.

"How?"

"I just know." she said rubbing his scar without knowing.

"He tortured me... I only conveyed rumors. There's... There's no telling whether he will find it."

"He has found it, sir. We'll let you rest." Jade said.

They stood up and started to leave the room.

"He's after you, Ms. Potter. If it's true what you say, that he has the Elder Wand, I'm afraid, you really don't stand a chance."

"Well, I am supposed to kill him, before he finds me, then."


	12. Chapter 12

The next day they were in the room Hermione and Jade had slept in.

"You sure that's her?" Ron asked.

Hermione life the hair.

"Positive."

Then she drank it and got changed.

After that they stood outside. Ron was Rodolphus Lestrange and Henry was in an invisibility spell that Bill had taught them.

Jade was going to use the invisibility cloak to carry Griphook.

"Well, how do I look?" Hermione asked.

"Hideous." Ron said.

"You can put the sword in Hermione's bag." Jade said.

So Griphook put the sword in her bag and then they stood up straight.

"We're relying on you Griphook. If you help us get through the guards the sword is yours." Henry said.

So they all grabbed Hermione's hand and were gone.

When they got there someone saw them.

"Madam Lestrange." he said.

"Good morning." Hermione said.

Then the man left.

"Good morning? Good morning? You're Bellatrix Lestrange not a school girl!" Griphook said.

"Hey!" Ron said.

"No he's right, I was being stupid." she said.

"Alright, let's go." Jade said and put Griphook on his back. Then Henry put the cloak on her.

When they got to Gringotts Hermione did the best she could to look and act like Bellatrix.

When they got to the goblin she cleared her throat. She got no answer so she did it again.

"I wish to enter my vault." Hermione said.

"Identification?" the goblin said.

"I hardly think that would be necessary."

The goblin looked up in shock.

"Madam Lestrange!"

He looked at other people.

"I don't like to be kept waiting!" she said.

"It's an impostor!" someone whispered.

"I know." someone else whispered.

"What do we do Jade, Henry?" Ron asked quietly.

"Madam Lestrange, would you mind presenting your wand?" the goblin said.

"And why should I do that?" she asked.

"It's the bank's policy! I'm sure you understand, given current climate." he said.

"No! I most certainly do not understand!"

"I'm afraid, I must insist."

"Use the imperious curse!" Griphook said.

"WHAT?" Jade asked.

"Do it!"

She sighed and then quietly walked to the goblin.

_"Imperio!"_ she whispered said.

"Very well Madam Lestrange. If you will follow me."

So he lead them to their vault. While they did that they saw things they weren't expecting.

While they headed to the vault they saw something.

"What is that, Griphook?" Jade asked loud.

"Griphook!" Henry yelled.

Then they stopped and were back to their real selves and visible again. Tracey had put the cloak in her purse again.

_"Aresto Momentum!"_ Hermione yelled while they fell.

Then they were on the ground.

"Well done, Hermione." Ron said when they stood up.

"Oh no, you two're like you again. The Thief's Downfall, washes away all enchantment. Can be deadly." Griphook said.

"You don't say. Just out of interest, is there any other way outta here?" Ron said.

"No." Griphook said.

A few seconds later the goblin was back.

"What the devil are all you doing here?! Thieves!"

_"Imperio!"_ Jade said again.

Then they heard something.

"That doesn't sound good." Henry said.

Then they saw a dragon.

"Bloody hell! It's an Ukrainian Iron belly!" Ron said.

"You know, having a brother that studies dragons can be very helpful." Jade said.

"Here." Griphook said handing them something.

Then he started shaking it back and forth.

"It's been trained to when it hears this noise." he said.

"That's barbaric!" Hermione said.

Then they stopped shaking it.

After they opened the door Jade took out his wand.

_"Lumos."_

Then some light appeared and they looked around.

"Blimey!" Ron said.

Hermione took her wand.

_"Accio Horcrux!"_

Then nothing happened.

"You honestly think that was going to work? Hermione if it didn't work with the fake Horcrux it won't work with the real Horcrux!" Henry said.

"No kind of magic will work here." Griphook said.

"Is it here Jade? Can you feel anything?" Ron asked.

She looked around and then looked up and started to hear it.

"That's it! Up there!" she said.

They all looked up and saw a cup. Then Ron bumped into something and it started to make copies of itself.

"A duplication spell! Anything you touch will multiply!" Griphook said.

"Give me the sword!" she said.

Hermione took it out of her bag. Then tossed it to him.

While he started to climb Ron kept moving.

"Stop moving!" Hermione said.

So he stood still and watched Jade climb. A few seconds later she was able to grab it.

"Got it!" Jade said.

Then they started to leave and had trouble getting up. Griphook just stood there.

"We had a deal Griphook!" Jade said.

"The cup for the sword!" he said.

So Henry handed him the sword. When he grabbed it he smirked.

"I said I'd let you in. I didn't say anything about getting you out!"

"Griphook! Griphook!" Jade yelled while Griphook took the other goblin's hand and unlocked the door.

After that he got away from the dragon.

"We've still got Bogrod." Ron said.

Then the dragon set him on fire and he was gone.

"That's unfortunate." Henry said.

"We can't just stand here," Hermione said.

"You got any idea?" Henry asked.

"Should be a brilliant one." Ron said.

"I've got something, but it's mad!" she said.

Then she put her wand down and got the dragon.

_"Reducto!"_

After that she climbed on the dragon.

"Well, come on, then!"

The other three did as told.

_"Relashio!_ Keep moving!"

So they did as told.

"Now what?" Jade asked.

_"Reducto!_ Hold on."

While they did that they broke the bottom of Gringotts and got out.

"That was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Ron said.

A while later they were at a lake and started to go down.

"We're dropping!" Henry said.

"I say we jump!" Ron said.

"When?" Hermione said.

"Now!" Jade said.

So they all started to fall in the water. While they were under water Jade's scar started to hurt and she unlocked her occlumency to see what it was.

She say Rowena Ravenclaw and Voldemort shot the killing curse at everyone.

A few seconds later she locked up her connection and spit out water.

Then he headed to the surface.

When she got there she looked at Henry's friends and Henry.

"He knows, Tom! He knows we we broke into Gringotts and he knows we're hunting Horcruxes." she said.

"How is it you know? Hermione asked.

"I saw it!"

"You let him in! Jade you can't do that!" Henry said.

"Henry I did it on purpose to see what he was doing and checking to see if he found out!"

"Never mind what happened?" Ron asked.

"He knows, if we find and destroy all the Horcruxes, we'll be able to kill him. I reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest. And there's more. One of them's at Hogwarts."

Hermione fixed up her hand and then she started to change into dry clothes after she grabbed some.

"What? You saw it?" Tracey said.

"I saw Hogwarts, and Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her. We have to go there and we have to go there now!"

"What? We can't do that, we have to figure it out we have to make a plan!" Hermione said.

"Hermione! When have any of our plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there and it doesn't work!" Henry said.

"He's right! One problem... Snape's Headmaster now, we can't just move freely from the front door!" Ron said.

"Well, we'll go to Hogsmeade, to Honeydukes. Take the secret passage in the cellar. It's... There's something wrong with him. It's like, you know, in the past... I've always been able to follow his thoughts. And now everything just feels disconnected." Jade said fixing his glasses.

"Maybe it's the Horcruxes. Maybe he's getting weaker. Maybe he's dying!"

"No! No, it's.. it's more like he's wounded. If anything, he feels more dangerous." Jade said.

After that they apparated to Hogsmead.


	13. Chapter 13

When they got there they heard something go off.

"Potter's!" someone yelled.

"Right here!"

"Search everywhere!"

While they did that Jade, Ron, Henry and Hermione heard someone else say something.

"In here, Potters. Come on, move!"

"Did you look at him. For a second I thought that was..." Ron said.

"I know. Dumbledore!" Henry said.

Hermione looked at the mirror.

"Jade? I can see you in this." she said.

He took out the glass and put it on the mirror.

"Bloody fools, what are you thinking coming here? Have you any idea how dangerous it is?" someone said.

"You're Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother. It's you who I've been seeing in here. You're the one who sent Dobby." Hermione said.

"Where've you left him?" Aberforth asked.

"He's dead." Jade said.

"Sorry to hear it. I liked that elf." he said.

"Who gave that to you? The mirror?" Jade asked.

"Mundungus Fletcher, about a few months ago."

"Dung had no right selling that to you. It belongs to..." Henry started.

"Sirius... Albus told me. He also told me you'd likely be hacked off, if you ever found that I had it. But, ask yourself; Where would you be if I didn't?" he said.

Then Aberforth gave them some butterbeer.

"Do you have any others much? From the Order?" Hermione asked.

"The Order has finished. You-Know-Who has won, anyone who says otherwise is killing themselves." he said.

Jade turned around and looked at him.

"We have to go to the Hogwarts, tonight. Dumbledore gave us a job to do." Jade said.

"Did he now? Nice job? Easy?"

"We've been hunting Horcruxes. We think the last one is at Hogwarts. But we'll need your help to do it." Henry said.

"What my brother gave you is a suicide mission. Do us all a favor and go home you two! Live a little longer."

"Dumbledore trusted us to see this through." Jade said.

"What makes you think you can trust him? What makes you think you can believe anything my brother told you? And in all the time you knew him... Did he ever mention my name? Did he ever mentioned hers?"

"Why should he..." Jade said.

"Keep secrets. You tell me?"

"We trusted him." Henry said.

"That's the boy's answer. A boy goes chasing Horcruxes is on the word of a man who wouldn't even tell him where to start. You're lying! Not just on me, it doesn't matter. To yourselves as well. That's what a fool does. You don't strike me as a fool, Jade and Tracey Potter! So, I ask you two again, there must be a reason."

"We're not interested in what happened between you and your brother." Henry said.

"We don't care that you've given up. We trusted the man we knew. We need to get into the castle tonight." Jade said.

He looked at the two of them and then Ariana.

"You know what to do."

"That's your sister, Ariana. Isn't it? She died very young, didn't she?" Hermione said.

"My brother sacrificed many things, Ms. Potter. On his journey to find power. Including Ariana. And she was devoted to him. He gave her everything. But time." he said.

"Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore. He did save our lives twice! Kept an eye on us on that mirror. That doesn't seem like someone who's given up!" Hermione said.

"She's coming back." she said.

They looked closer.

"What's that with her?" Tracey said.

"Neville! How you look..." Henry started.

"Like hell, I reckon. But this is nothing. Seamus is worse. Hey, Ab! We've got a couple more coming through." Neville said.

"Don't remember this on the Marauder's Map." Ron said while they followed him.

They didn't get one they're first year but Henry had told them about it.

"That's because it never existed till now. The seven secret passages were sealed off, before the start of the year. This is the only way in or out, now. The grounds are crawled with Death Eaters and Dementors." he said.

"How about Mr. Snape as Headmaster?" Hermione asked.

"Hardly ever seen. It's the Carrows who's watching out for."

"Carrows?" Jade asked.

"Yeah. Brother and sister. Incharge of discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"They did that to you? Why?" Henry asked.

"Today's Dark Arts lesson was practicing the Cruciatus curse. On first years. I refused. Hogwarts has changed."

A few seconds later they were where they got to school.

"Let's have a little bit of fun shall we?"

Then he opened the door.

"Hey! Listen up you lot. Got you a surprise."

"Not more of Aberforth's cooking I hope. I can't even keep it digested!" Seamus said.

Then Neville stepped away and then Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione were seen.

"Blimey!" Seamus said and started clapping.

Everyone else started to.

"OK OK!" Neville said smiling.

Then everyone started to calm down and then looked at Jade.

"So, what's the fun Jade, Henry?" Neville asked.

"OK. There's something here that can defeat you-know-who and it's somewhere in Hogwarts." he said.

"What is it?" Neville asked.

"We don't know." Henry said.

"Where is it?" Seamus asked.

"We don't know that either. I guess there's nothing else to go on." he continued.

"We think it has something to do with Ravenclaw. It would be something small, easily concealed. Anyone have any idea?" Jade said rubbing his scar.

"Well, there's the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. Hasn't anyone heard of it? It's quite famous." Luna said.

"Yes but Luna, it's lost. For centuries now. There hasn't been a person to find it." Cho said.

"Excuse me can someone tell me what a bloody diadem is?" Ron said.

"It's a sort of crown. Like a tiara." Cho explained.

Then the door opened and it was Ginny.

"Jade, Henry." she said.

"Hi there." Henry said.

"Six months she hasn't seen me and it's like I'm a frankie first-year. I'm her brother!" Ron said.

"She got lots of them, but she has got only one Jade." Seamus said fighting the laughter.

"Shut up, Seamus!" Ron said.

"What is it, Ginny?" Neville asked.

"Snape knows, he knows Jade and Henry were at Hogsmead." she said.

They all looked at her and came up with an idea.


	14. Chapter 14

A few minutes later everyone was at the great hall.

"Many of you must be wondering why I summon you here at this time of night. It has come to my attention that earlier today Jade and Henry Potter have appeared." Snape said.

Everyone started whispering.

"Now... should anyone... student or staff attempt to aid Mr. and or Ms. Potter? They will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transcription, further more... Any person found have knowledge of these events... who fails to come forward... will be treated as equally guilty. Another... If anyone in here has any knowledge of Mr. or Ms. Potter's movements this evening. I invite them to step forward. Now!" he said.

Then two people appeared.

"It seems, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a security problem, Headmaster. I finished school last year and could call you Severus but I'm in my school uniform so I have to call you headmaster." Jade said.

People from the Order appeared with Ron and Hermione. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus looked at Jade and Henry in relief and worried at the same time.

"I'm afraid it's quite extensive. How dare you stand where he stood?" Henry said.

"Tell them how it happened that night? Tell them how you looked him in the eye... A man who trusted you, and killed him. Tell them!" Jade said.

Snape pulled out his wand and Jade, Henry and McGonagall did the same thing. Then she started aiming at him. And he just used a shield charm.

Then he flew away.

"COWARD!" McGonagall yelled.

Jade and Henry pulled off their cloaks. While McGonagall let off the candles.

A few seconds later Jade's scar started burning.

"Jade?" Henry said worried.

"Potter?" McGonagall said.

"I know that many of you will want to fight. Some of you might even think to fight is wise. But this is folly. Give me Jade Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Jade Potter, and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Jade Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have one hour." Voldemort said.

Everyone stood there quietly.

'You're not getting my big, protective sister!' Henry thought.

"What are you waiting for? Someone grab him!" someone said pointing at him.

Then when nobody was looking she mouthed 'sorry Jade'

Henry grabbed one of her hand and Ginny grabbed the other while his friends came and stood in front of her or next to her.

She knew Aden and Astoria wanted to go to but couldn't.

"Students out of bed! Students in the corridor!" Mr. Filch yelled.

"They are supposed to be out of bed you bombaling idiot!" McGonagall said.

"Oh, sorry ma'am." he said.

"As it happens, Mr. Filch, Your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I would like you please, to lead the Slytherin house, from the hall." she said.

"Exactly where is it I'll be leading 'em to, ma'am?" he asked.

"The dungeons would do."

After that she looked at Jade and Henry.

"I assume that you two are here for something important. What is it you need Potters?" McGonagall asked.

"Time Professor. As much as you can give us." Jade said.

She nodded and Jade and Henry started to leave.

"Potters."

They turned around and looked at her.

"It's good to see you. Especially you Jade, since you finished school last year I don't get to see you everyday."

"Good to see you to Professor." Henry said.

When they left the room Hermione called their names.

"Jade! Henry!"

They turned around and looked at them.

"Hermione and I were thinking, it doesn't matter if we find the Horcrux." Ron said.

"What do you mean?" Jade said.

"Unless we can destroy it. So, we were thinking, well Ron was thinking which is completely brilliant. You destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang, right?" Hermione said.

She nodded.

"Well, me and Hermione did remind where we might find one." Ron said.

"OK, OK well take this." Jade said handing them the Marauders map. "That way, you can find me when you get back."

"Where are you two going?" Hermione asked.

"The Ravenclaw common room! Gotta start somewhere!" Henry said with a shrug.

"Jade! Henry!" Luna said following them.

"Jade, Henry, I need to talk to you!"

"We're a bit preoccupied at the moment Luna. We'll talk to you later." Henry said."

"But-"

"Later!" Jade said.

"Jade and Henry Potter! You listen to me right now!" Luna said.

They looked at her in shock a little.

"Do you remember what Cho said about Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem? There is not a person alive who's seen it. It's obvious, isn't it? We have to talk to someone who's dead." she said.

Then they followed Luna to find her. They stopped for a few minutes.

"It's very impressive, isn't it? If you want to find her, you'll find her down there." she said when they got there.

"Aren't you coming?" Jade said.

"No. I think it's best if you three talk alone. She's very shy."

They nodded and walked over to her. When they found her they looked at each other and nodded.

"You're the Grey Lady. The ghost of Ravenclaw tower." Jade said.

"I do not answer to that name!" she said and started to leave.

"No, I'm sorry, we're sorry! It's Helena, isn't it? Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena's daughter." Henry said.

"Are you friends of Luna's?" Helena asked.

"Yes." Henry said.

And she thought you might be able to help us." Jade said.

"You two seek my mother's diadem?" she said.

"Yes. That's right." Tracey said.

"Luna is kind. Unlike so many of the others. But she was wrong, I cannot help you!" she said.

"Wait, please! We want to destroy it!" Jade said.

She froze and turned around.

"I thought you want to do it. Isn't it, Helena? You want it destroyed?" Henry said.

"Another promised to destroy it many years ago. A strange boy with a strange name?"

"Tom Riddle." Jade said.

"But he lied."

"He lied to many people." Jade said.

"I know what he's done! I know who he is! He defiled it, with dark magic!" she yelled.

"We can destroy it. Once and for all. But only if you tell us where he hid it? You do know where he hid it? Don't you, Helena? You just have to tell us." Henry said.

"Please!" Jade said.

"Strange! You remind me of him a bit." she started going around Jade.

"It's here, in the castle. In the place where everything is hidden. If you have to ask... you will never know. If you know... you need only ask." she said getting away from her.

"Thank you!" they said together.

Then they headed to where they needed to be.


	15. Chapter 15

While Jade and Henry were on their way to the Room of Requirements Jade felt pain she's felt before.

While she was feeling that she was falling in the ground.

"Jade!" Henry said.

A few seconds later she didn't feel the pain anymore and took a few deep breaths.

"You alright?" she asked helping him up.

"Yeah, Ron and Hermione got the cup all set."

He nodded and then they continued to get where they have to go.

While they did that they bumped into Ginny and Neville.

"Ginny, Neville! You alright?" Jade asked.

"Never better! I feel like I can spit fire! Have you seen Luna up there?" Neville said.

"Luna?" Jade said confused.

"I'm mad for her. I think it's about time I told her since well probably both be dead by dawn." he said.

Then he left to go find her.

Jade looked at Henry and shrugged. Then they started running again.

When they got there they stood there for a second.

When they got there they saw Ron and Hermione and looked around. When Jade got close to a box she felt something she was familiar with.

So she turned around and opened it. There was the diadem. She was about to pick it up he heard something.

"Well well well, what brings you here Potters?" Malfoy said looking Jade the most.

"Draco." Jade said quietly.

"We'd like to ask you the same question." Henry said.

"You have something of mine. I'd like it back." he said still looking at Jade.

She could tell he wanted to just hold her. They had been close like brother and sister so would do that once in a while.

"Well what's wrong with the wand you have there?" Jade asked.

They both felt guilty about doing this to each other but knew they needed to keep going until the end of this war.

"It's my mother's. It's powerful but, not the same. It doesn't understand me, you know?"

"Why didn't you tell her? Bellatrix? You knew it was us. You didn't say anything." Jade said.

He stood there quietly.

'Because you're one of my best friends.' he thought.

Jade could tell that that's what he was saying and smiled a little so nobody but him else could see it.

"Come on, Draco! Don't be a prat. Do it!" Goyle said.

"Easy!" Ron said.

_"Expelliarmus!"_ Hermione said.

_"Avada Kedavra!"_ Goyle shouted.

_"Stupefy!"_ Ron said.

"This is my girlfriend, you bloody gits!" he yelled running after him.

Then they heard something.

"Ahh! Goyle set the bloody place on fire!" Ron said grabbing hermione's hand and running.

Jade and Henry did the same thing.

"Come on! This way!" Jade said tossing the other three a broom.

While they flew Jade saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle climb up the things.

"We can't leave them!" she said looking at the other three.

"She's joking, right?" Ron said.

"He's one of her best friends! What do you expect?" Henry said.

Jade started to go to the two of them.

"If we die for them, Jade, I'm gonna kill you!" Ron said while they headed to them.

Jade grabbed Malfoy's hand while Ron grabbed Goyle.

Crabbe had fallen into the fire.

When they got out of the room Jade headed to the diadem.

"Jade!" Hermione said tossing her a fang.

She caught it and put it in the diadem.

When she did that she felt the pain and crawled backwards. While she did that Voldemort's fire face went off and the door shut.

Jade took a few deep breaths and heard something.

"Come Nagini. I need to keep you safe."

Henry, Ron and Hermione looked at her.

"It's the snake. She's the last one. I heard him say her name and he needs to protect her." she said.

Ron, Henry and Hermione looked at each other then Jade.

"Look inside him. If you find him you can find the snake. We can end this." Ron said.

So she shut her eyes tightly and unlocked her occlumency.

"My Lord... Might it be less... I should not be more prudent to call off this attack. Simply seek the girl yourself." Lucius said.

"I do not need to seek the boy before the night is out, he will come to me! Do you understand?" Voldemort snapped.

Then he slapped Lucius.

"Look at me! How can you live with yourself, Lucius?"

"I don't know." he said.

"Go and find Severus. Bring him to me."

Then Jade was back and relocked her occlumency. As tightly as she could.

"I know where she is." she said.


	16. Chapter 16

When they got to where Voldemort was they stood there quietly.

"You have performed extra ordinary magic with this wand, My Lord, in the last few hours alone." Snape said.

"No! No! I am extra-ordinary. But the wand resists me. There is no wand more powerful. Ollivander himself has said it.

Tonight, when the boy comes. It will not fail you, I am sure."

"It answers to you, and you only."

"Does it?"

"My Lord?" Snape said confused.

"The wand, does it truly answer to me? You're a clever man, Severus. Surely you must know... Where does its true loyalty lie? With you..."

"Of course, My Lord."

"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Dumbledore, Severus. While you live, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine. You've been a good and faithful servant, Severus. But only I can live forever."

"My Lord..."

"Nagini, kill!"

Then she jumped on to Snape and bit him deeply a few times. Then they were gone.

After that Jade, Henry, Ron and Hermione headed to Snape. Jade and Henry knelt down next to him. Jade put her hands on his face.

"Take them. Take them." Snape said while he cried.

Jade opened her bag and took out a pensive.

She put it under his eye and got enough tears.

"Look at me." Snape said.

Jade and Henry looked at him.

"You you have your mother's eyes."

Then he was gone.

Jade looked at Henry and he looked at Jade. Then they stood up. When they did that Jade felt her scar and put her hand on the window.

"You've fought valiantly, but in vain... I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I therefore command my forces to retreat...

In their absence, dispose your dead with dignity, Jade Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have allowed your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. There is no greater dishonor.

Join me in the Forbidden Forrest... and confront your fate. If you do not do this, I shall kill every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me."

After he was gone the four of them went back to Hogwarts.

When they got there they walked around.

"Where is everybody?" Hermione said.

When they got to the great hall they saw people sitting there. Ron saw his family crying and found out Fred was gone.

Hermione walked over to Ron and Jade and Henry kept going. Then they saw their parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks. Henry's eyes started watering.

Jade put him in her arms and rubbed his back.

"You can stay here or come with me." she said.

She had trouble hiding even more of her tears but had to fight these ones for her brother. She swore to protect him and comfort him if he needed it.

Henry looked at her.

"We started this together, we're ending this together."

So they continued to the office.

When they got to the room Jade grabbed the pensive.

Then she poured the memory and then they went in.

_They saw their mom using magic in front of their aunt._

_"Freak! Come here! I'm gonna tell mommy! You're freak! You're freak, Lily! Come here!" Petunia said._

_Then Snape appeared and she ran away._

_"She's jealous. She's ordinary and you're special." he said._

_"That's not true, Severus."_

_"Gryffindor!" The sorting hat said._

_"Hi, I'm James." he said shaking her hand._

_"Hi, I'm Lily."_

_"Masters shall be reunited once more!" Trigawny said._

_"Severus." Dumbledore said._

_"Don't kill me!" Snape said._

_"The prophecy did not refer to a woman. It spoke about a child born at the end of the July."_

_"Yes, but they're her kids! He intends to hunt them down and kill them. Hide them... hide them all. I beg you!"_

_"What would you give me in exchange, Severus?" Dumbledore asked._

_"Anything."_

_"They don't need protection, the Dark Lord has gone." Snape said."_

_"The Dark Lord will return. And when he does, the boy will be in terrible danger! He has her eyes. Even though their parents are alive. They won't be there in school. His sister will be there to protect him but if you truly love her..."_

_"No one, can know." Snape said pointing his finger at Dumbledore._

_"I shall never reveal the best of you, Severus."_

_"Your word?" Dumbledore said._

_"Can you risk your life every day to protect the kids? He possesses no measurable talent, his arrogance rivals that of his father's and he seems to relish in his fame... his sister on the other hand is just like Lily once was." Snape said._

_"Drink it, it will contain the curse to your hand, for the time being. It will spread, Albus." Snape said with his hand on Dumbledore._

_"How long?"_

_"Maybe a year." he said then started to leave._

_"Don't ignore me, Severus. We both know Lord Voldemort has ordered the eldest Malfoy boy to murder me. But should he fail, I should presume the Dark Lord will turn to you. You must be the one to kill me, Severus. It is the only way. Only then, will the Dark Lord trust you completely." Dumbledore said._

_Then he stood up and walked over to Snape._

_"There will come a time, when Jade Potter, must be told something. But you must wait, until Voldemort is at his most vulnerable."_

_"Must be told what?" Snape asked suspicious._

_"On the night Lord Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow to kill Jade... Then, Lily Potter cast herself between them and now that It's the correct person did the same for Henry the curse rebounded. When that happens, a part of Voldemort's soul... latched itself onto the only living thing it could find... now that It's the correct person herself. There's a reason Jade can speak with snakes... There's a reason she can look into Lord Voldemort's mind... A part of Voldemort lives inside her."_

_"So, when the time comes... the girl must die?" Snape asked._

_"Yes... yes. She must die."_

_"After fixing your mistake you've kept her alive, so she can die at the proper moment? You've been raising her like a pig for slaughter._

_"Don't tell me now, that you've grown to care for the two of them." Dumbledore said._

_'Does he?' Jade and Henry wondered together._

_"Expecto Patronum."_

_Then a doe came and started hopping around._

_"Lily! After all this time!"_

_"Always. So, when the time comes... the girl must die?"_

_"Yes. She must die. And Voldemort himself must do it. That is essential."_

After that they were gone. When they got back they stood there quietly.

After a few minutes they went back downstairs.


	17. Chapter 17

When they got there they saw Ron and Hermione sitting there.

Then Ron and Hermione stood up.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked.

"I thought you were going to the forest." Ron said.

"I'm going there now." he said.

"Are you mad? No, you can't give yourself into him." Ron said.

Then Jade and Henry stood there.

"What is it Jade, Henry?" Hermione asked.

"There is a reason I can hear them. The Horcruxes. I think I've known for a while." she said.

"I'll go with you." Hermione said.

"No, kill the snake. Kill the snake, and it's just him!" she said.

She looked at Henry and gave him a hug.

"Don't go with me. I don't want anyone to lose you. And with you and Neville still being who can defeat him we still have a chance." she said while she felt tears going on her jacket.

Then he nodded and then let go.

After that she headed to the forest.

When she got there she took out her snitch.

"I'm ready to die." she said.

Then she put it on her mouth and something came out.

"The Resurrection Stone." she whispered.

Then she shut her eyes with it in her hand.

Then she opened them and saw her parents, Remus and Sirius.

She walked over to her mum with her hand out and Jade's went through hers.

"You two've been so brave, sweetheart." Lily said.

"Why are you here? All of you." she asked.

"We never left." Lily said.

Then she looked at Sirius.

"Does... Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Dying? Quicker than falling asleep." he said.

"You're nearly there, Jade. We're so proud of you two. And sorry about how we treated you your whole life and understand if you want to change your name to Black." James said.

"I'm sorry. I never wanted any of you to die for me. And, uncle Moony, your son?" she said then looked at Remus.

"Others will tell him what his mother and father died for. One day, he'll understand. Don't worry cub. We chose you as godmother for the reason you'll take good care of him like you do with Henry." he said.

Jade nodded and looked at Sirius.

"I'll take care of Black for you. Henry will take care of Potter. You're more of a dad than an uncle to me." she said her eyes watering a little.

Sirius smiled and nodded.

"I've always considered adopting you because your more of a daughter than a niece and goddaughter." he said.

Then she looked at Lily.

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the end." James said smiling.

"And he won't be able to see you?"

"No. We're here, you see pup." Sirius said.

Then she looked at her mum.

"Stay close to me." she said looking at her.

"Always." she said.

She put the stone down and headed to Voldemort.

When she got there she heard something.

"No sign of her, My Lord." someone said.

"I thought she'd come." Voldemort said and turned around.

Then he heard something and turned around. Then saw Harry.

"Jade, no! What're yeh doin' 'ere?" Hagrid said.

"Quiet!" someone said.

"Jade Potter... The Girl-Who-Lived... come to die." Voldemort said.

Jade shut her eyes and waited.

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

A few seconds later she found herself on the ground and looked around.

She stood up and heard something. Then she looked underneath the bench and jumped.

It was a small Voldemort.

"You can't help... Jade, you're a wonderful girl... You brave, brave woman! Let us walk." Dumbledore said.

"Professor, what is that?" Jade asked looking behind himself.

"Something beyond either of our help. A part of Voldemort sent here to die." he said.

"And exactly where are we?"

"I was gonna ask you that. Where would you say where we are?"

"Well, it looks like King's Cross station. Only cleaner... and without all the trains."

"King's Cross, is that right? This is as they say, 'your' party. I expect you now realize that you and Voldemort... have been connected by something other than fate. Since that night at Godric's Hollow all those years ago."

"So it's true then, sir. A part of him lives within me, doesn't it?"

"Did. It's been just destroyed many moments ago by none other than Voldemort himself. You, were the Horcrux he never meant to make, Jade."

They sat down and Jade sighed.

"I have to go back, haven't I?" she said looking at Dumbledore.

"Oh, that's up to you." Dumbledore said.

"I've a choice?" she asked surprised.

"Oh, yeah! We're in King's Cross, you say. I think if so decide, you'll be able to board a train."

"And where will it take me?"

Dumbledore smiled.

"On."

Then Dumbledore stood up and turned around.

"Voldemort has the Elder Wand?" Jade said.

"True."

"And the snake is still alive?"

"Yes."

"And I've nothing to kill it with?"

"Help will always be given at Hogwarts, Jade. To those who ask for it. I've always pride of myself on my ability to turn a phrase. Words are, in my not so humble opinion... almost inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of inflicting injury and remedies. But I would in this case... amend my original statement to this: Help, will always be given at Hogwarts, to those who deserve it. Do not pity the dead, Jade... Pity the living. And above all... all those who live without love."

Then he turned back around.

"Professor, my mother's Patronus... was a doe, wasn't it? As the same as Professor Snape's. It's curious, don't you think?" Jade said.

"Actually, if I think about it... it doesn't seem curious at all! I'll be going now, Jade."

"Professor? Is this all real? Or is it just happening inside my head?"

"Of course it's happening

inside your head, Jade. Why should that mean, that it's not real?"

Professor? What should I do? Professor!"

She shook her head then thought.

"Henry needs you, and swore to protect him when you were younger. He may be seventeen but will always be my little brother. And with mum, dad, uncle Moony, uncle Padfoot and uncle Wormy all gone it's just us. And with Ted an orphan at four months old he needs you." she said to herself.

She decided to come back.

"My Lord, My Lord... Are you hurt?" Bellatrix said.

"I don't need your help." Voldemort said pushing her off of himself.

"The girl... Is she dead?" she said.

Narcissa walked over to her and saw her breathing.

"Are they alive? Draco and Aden, are they alive?" she asked quietly.

Jade nodded.

Then she looked at Voldemort.

"Dead."

So they had Hagrid pick him up and then headed to Hogwarts.


	18. Chapter 18

When they got there Voldemort moved a dead troll out of his way.

When everyone saw him they froze.

"Neville, who's that Hagrid's carrying? Neville who is it?!" Ginny asked.

"Jade Potter, is dead!" Voldemort said.

"No! No!" George said running.

But Arthur pulled him back.

"Silent!" Voldemort yelled with the wand in his hand.

"Jade Potter, is dead. And now it's the time to declare yourself.

Come forward and join us... or die!" he said.

"Draco, Aden! Draco, Aden." Lucius said waving his hand.

"Draco, Aden. Come." Narcissa said.

They started to walk over to him and then Voldemort put his hands around them.

"Well done, Draco, Aden. Well done!"

Narcissa gently pushed them over a bit.

Then Neville came.

"Well I must say I hoped for better." Voldemort said.

People started laughing.

"And who might be young man?"

"Neville Longbottom." he said.

Bellatrix laughed.

"Well I'm sure we'll find a place for you Neville."

"I'd like to say something." he said.

"Well, Neville, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear what you have to say."

"It doesn't matter that Jade's gone." he started.

"Stand down Neville." Seamus said.

"People die every day! So is Fred, Remus, Sirius, Lily, James, Tonks. Yeah, we lost Jade tonight and don't know her that well. All of them. They didn't die in vain. But he's still with us. In here." he said with a hand on his heart.

Then he looked at Voldemort.

"Because you're wrong! Jade's heart did beat for us. For all of us! It's not over!" he said with the sword in his hand.

Then Jade jumped off Hagrid and took out her wand.

_"Confringo!"_ Jade said.

Then ran. Everyone laughed a little to Ron, Hermione and Henry.

"Come on! All stay in the castle. We have to kill the snake!" he said.

So they split up and looked for the snake. Jade tried to keep Voldemort busy.

"Hey, you were right... when you told Professor Snape that wand was failing you. It was always fail..." Jade said.

Then was hit in the face by Voldemort.

"I killed Snape!" he said.

"Yeah, but what if the wand never belonged to Snape? What if its allegiance has always been with someone else? Oh, come on, Tom... Let's finish it the way we started."

Then Jade grabbed his face.

"Together!"

Then they started to fall on the ground. When they stood up Jade saw Voldemort feeling something and smirked.

Then the people were all standing there quietly. Everyone had been close.

The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Jade looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other.

"I don't want anyone else to help," Jade said loudly, and in the total silence her voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

She looked specifically at Henry.

Voldemort hissed.

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "This isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," said Jade simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good. . . ."

"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taut and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the girl who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings after finding out he made a mistake?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save us? Me doing the same thing for Henry?" asked Jade.

They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Jade no face existed but Voldemort's.

"Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two.

"Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Jade as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red.

"You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people - "

"But you did not!"

" - I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare -"

"Yes, I dare," said Jade. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

Voldemort did not speak, but prowled in a circle, and Jade knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Jade might indeed know a final secret. . . .

"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter - and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

"Just one thing," said Jade, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.

"If it is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both," said Jade, and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humourless and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.

"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"

"Oh he dreamed of it," said Jade, "but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."

"You mean he was weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he was cleverer than you," said Jade, "a better wizard, a better man."

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did," said Jade, "but you were wrong."

For the first time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one.

"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Jade as though they would cause him unendurable pain.

"His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"

"Yes, Dumbledore is dead," said Jade calmly, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."

"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Jade's.

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Jade. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you starting hunting down me and Henry's mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other apart.

"Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Jade, "the same as our mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized," she said as she saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him - "

"Of course he told you that," said Jade, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path!"

"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy - I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it; I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Jade Potter!"

"Yeah, it did." said Jade. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you think what you've done... Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . . ."

"What is this?"

Of all the things that Jade had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had socked Voldemort like this. Jade saw is pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten.

"It's your one last chance," said Jade, "it's all you've got left. . . . I've seen what you'll be otherwise. . . . Be a man. . . try. . . Try for some remorse. . . ."

"You dare - ?" said Voldemort again.

"Yes, I dare," said Jade, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle."

Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Jade gripped Draco's very tightly. The moment, he knew, was seconds away.

"That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed - "

"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die, undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"

"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against the last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"

"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard . . . The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance . . ."

Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Jade could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.

"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.

"But what does it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy . . ."

"But you're too late," said Jade. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him."

Jade twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it.

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Jade. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does . . . I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

A red-glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Jade heard the high voice shriek as she too yelled her best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_"Expelliarmus!"_

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided.

Jade saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last.

And Jade, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in her free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward.

Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing.

Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Jade stood with two wands in her hand, staring down at her enemy's shell.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Jade as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air.

The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach her were Henry and Daphne, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him.

Then Blaise, Pansy, and Astoria were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Jade could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, not tell whose hands were seizing her, pulling her, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the true Girl-Who-Lived, the reason it was over at last –

The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. Jade was an indispensible part of the mingled outpourings of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration.

They wanted him there with them, their leader and symbol, their savoir and their guide, and that he had not slept, that he craved the company of only a few of them, seemed to occur to no one. He must speak to the bereaved, clasp their hands, witness their tears, receive their thanks, hear the news now creeping in from every quarter as the morning drew on; that the Imperiused up and down the country had come back to themselves, that Death Eaters were fleeing or else being captured, that the innocent of Azkaban were being released at that very moment, and that Kingsley Shacklebolt had been named temporary Minister of Magic.

They moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away form the bodies of Fred, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, Colin Creevey, and fifty others who had died fighting him.

McGonagall had replaced the House tables, not nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, people were throwing food into his laughing mouth.

After a while, exhausted and drained, Jade found herself sitting on a bench beside Henry.

She looked at him and smiled.

Then they looked for their friends.

When they found them they went to Dumbledore's office.


	19. Chapter 19

When they got there they heard paintings clapping and Dumbledore smiling.

Dexter Fortescue was waving his ear-trumpet; and Phineas Niggelus called, in his high, reedy voice, "And let it be noted that Slytherin House played its part! Let our contribution not be forgotten!"

But Jade had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster's chair.

Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and the gratitude emanating from him filled Jade with the same balm as phoenix song.

At last, Jade held up her hands, and the portraits fell respectfully silent, beaming and mopping their eyes and waiting eagerly for him to speak. She directed her words at Dumbledore, however, and chose them with enormous care.

Still tired and bleary-eyed though she was, she must make one last effort, seeking one last piece of advice.

"The thing that was hidden in the Snitch," she began, "I dropped it in the forest. I don't exactly know where, but I'm not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"

"My dear girl, I do," said Dumbledore, while his fellow pictures looked confused and curious. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less than I would have expected of you. Does anyone know else know where it fell?"

"No one," said Jade, and Dumbledore nodded his satisfaction.

"I'm going to keep Ignotus's present, though, even though I'm changing my name to Jade Lily Black. I'm still heir of Potter." said Jade, and Dumbledore beamed.

"But of course, Jade, it is yours forever, until you pass it on!"

"Yeah, you're the oldest so it's still yours." Henry said.

She had told him she was changing from Potter to Black for Sirius.

"And then there's this."

Jade held up the Elder Wand, and Ron, Hermione, Daphne, Blaise, Theo, Pansy and Astoria looked at it with a reverence.

"I don't want it." said Jade.

"What?" said Ron loudly. "Are you mental?"

"I know it's powerful," said Jade wearily. "But I was happier with mine. So . . ."

She rummaged in the pouch hung around his neck, and pulled out the two halves of holly still just connected by the finest threat of phoenix feather.

She laid the broken wand upon the headmaster's desk, touched it with the very tip of the Elder Wand, and said,

_"Reparo."_

As her wand resealed, Red sparks flew out of its end.. She picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in her fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion.

"I'm putting the Elder Wand," she told Dumbledore, who was watching him with enormous affection and admiration, "back where it came from. It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."

Dumbledore nodded. They smiled at each other.

"Are you sure?" said Ron.

There was the faintest trace of longing in his voice as he looked at the Elder Wand.

"I think Jade's right," said Henry quietly.

"That wand's more trouble than it's worth." said Jade.

"And quite honestly," she turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for her in Slytherin Tower, and wondering whether Kreacher or Tweeky might bring her a sandwich there, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."

"You can say that again." Henry said.

"Come on. Let's go see Madam Pomfrey. Call Tweeky or Kreacher and ask them to make us something to eat." Jade said.

They nodded and headed to Madam Pomfrey.

When they got there she looked at them and fixed them up. Jade called Tweeky and asked her for some food.

"Yes Mistress Jade, in Tweeky's opinion Mistress Jade and Master Henry deserve food. Especially Mistress Jade!" she said.

She and Henry laughed after she went to the kitchen.

After Madam Pomfrey was done and they finished their food Jade was out of it first, then Henry, then Ron and Hermione looked at their friends and smiled. Then they fell asleep to.

They deserve the rest they got. Especially Jade.

A few days had gone by and they still hadn't told Tweeky and Kreacher about their parents and Sirius yet.

They stood there in Godrics Hollow looking at their family graves Jade and Henry looked at each other.

"I have an idea of what we can do." Jade said.

"What?" Henry asked.

So he took out his wand and started.

I solemnly swear it I'm up to no good.

Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Remus AKA Moony

J. H

Cub Cubbling

Peter AKA Wormtail

J. H

Kitten Pronglet

Sirius AKA Padfoot

J. H

Pup Prongslet

James AKA Prongs

J. H

Pronglet Prongs jr.

Are PROUD to PRESENT the MArAuDeRs.

Mischief MANAGED

They looked at the graves, smiled and nodded.

"There we go!" Henry said.

They stood there quietly for a few minutes.

"I guess I have to take ladyship of the Black don't I?" Jade said.

Henry nodded. "And I have to take lordship of the Potter."

"You staying at Potter Manor or Grimauld Place?"

"I'm staying at Potter Manor then after you finish school I'll head to Grimauld Place. You are finishing school right?"

"Yeah then accept the auror offers Kingsley gave us. Ron's not going back to school. Just us and Hermione."

Then he thought of something.

"Why don't you have Kreacher stay at home until next year. That way he can still work and have help with Tweeky?"

"Sounds good. KREACHER!"

"TWEEKY!"

They called together.

Then they heard two snaps at once.

"Mistress Jade call Kreacher?" he said.

He was more used to Jade then Henry so he answers to her more than Henry.

"Master Henry and Mistress Jade call Tweeky?" she asked smiling.

"Yes, I'm staying at Potter Manor for the next year so I can keep in touch with Henry and look after him when he's home. So you can either stay at Grimauld Place, Hogwarts or stay with me at Potter Manor." Jade said.

"Kreacher will stay with his Mistress Jade at Potter Manor. Can Kreacher ask why?"

"And can Tweeky ask Mistress Jade why she and Master Henry are here and where Master James and Mistress Lily are?" Tweeky asked.

"Mum, dad, Sirius and Remus are gone Tweeky, Kreacher." Henry said.

Tweeky burst into tears. While Kreacher stood there in shock.

"Come here Tweeky. Let it all out. We can dry our clothes." Jade said.

So she ran into her arms and Henry did the same thing.

When they all calmed down they looked at the graves.

"Well, why don't we go to Potter Manor and have some dinner?" Jade said.

"Sounds good. Tweeky, do you mind giving me a ride?" Henry said.

"Of course Master Henry!" Tweeky said smiling then took his hand and was gone.

"Same thing with me Kreacher?" Jade asked.

"Of course Mistress Jade." he said.

So like Jade did with Tweeky she held onto his hand and was gone.

When they got home they had Tweeky and Kreacher make dinner.

While they did that Jade and Henry sat in the living room quietly.

"This is going to be hard." Henry said.

"Yeah. But we'll always have each other. From the day we're born to the day we die we'll always have each other." Jade said.

So they gave each other a hug and then went and had dinner.

It was a hard war and they lost a lot of people they care about but will always have them and their friends. They'll also have each other for the rest of their life.


	20. Chapter 20

Nineteen Years Later

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp as an apple, and as the little family bobbed across the rumbling road toward the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air.

Two large cages tattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the redheaded girl trailed fearfully behind her brothers, clutching her father's arm.

"It won't be long, and you'll be going too," Jade told her.

"Two years," sniffed Lily. "I want to go now!"

The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Albus's voice drifted back to Jade over the surrounding clamor; his sons had resumed the argument they had started in the car.

"I won't! I won't be a Slytherin!"

"James, give it a rest!" said George.

"I only said he might be," said James, grinning at his younger brother. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth -"

But James caught his mother's eye and fell silent.

The five Blacks approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at his younger brother, James took the trolley from his mother and broke into a run. A moment later, he had vanished.

"You'll write to me, won't you?" Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.

"Every day, if you want us to," said George.

"Not every day," said Albus quickly,

"James says most people only get letters from home about once a month."

"We wrote to James three times a week last year," said George.

"And you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts," Jade put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother."

Side by side, they pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Albus winced, but no collision came. Instead, the family emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which James had already disappeared.

"Where are they?" asked Albus anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.

"We'll find them," said George reassuringly.

But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud, Jade thought she head Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello . . . .

"I think that's them, Al," said George suddenly.

A group of seven people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Jade, George, Lily, and Albus had drawn right up to them.

"Hi," said Albus, sounding immensely relieved.

Rose, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him.

"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Jade. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."

"No, I didn't," said Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."

"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Jade, as together they lifted Albus's trunk and owl onto the train.

"I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it; I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."

Jade and Henry laughed quietly.

Back on the platform, they found Lily, Hugo, Rose's younger brother, and Andrew having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."

"Ron!"

Lily, Hugo and Fred laughed, but Albus and Rose looked solemn.

"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione and Jade, but Ron was no longer paying attention.

"What about he mum?" Dora asked.

Henry smiled and so did Ginny.

"Don't worry sweetie, we don't care." she said.

Since Jade married George and being a Weasley they decided to take the Black family name. Jade Lily Black and George Arthur Black.

Catching Jade's eye, she nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.

"Look who it is." George said.

Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin? The new boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Jade.

Draco caught sight of Jade, Henry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and George staring at him, smiled and turned away again.

The six Slytherins were still close. Draco had married Astoria and Aden had married Daphne.

Shocking them everyone was invited to the two couples wedding. They weren't surprised they invited Jade though.

"So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breath.

"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"And you know he's one of my best friends. Same with Astoria." Jade said.

"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

"Hey!"

James had reappeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl, and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news.

"Teddy's back there," he said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam.

"Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"

He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.

"Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing -"

"You interrupted them?" said Jade. "You are so like Ron -"

"- and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added as though worried he had not made himself clear.

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Jade "Why don't we just invite him to live with is and have done with it?"

"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al-Teddy could have my room!"

"No," said Jade firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished."

She checked the battered old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's.

"It's nearly eleven; you'd better get on board." George said looking at his own watch.

"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Jade told James as she hugged him.

"Same for us Dora." Ginny said.

"But you know Neville-"

James rolled his eyes.

"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love . . . ."

Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Albus.

"I'll do it mum." Dora said.

"See you later, Al. Watch out for the Thestrals."

"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"

But James merely laughed, permitted his mother to kiss him, gave his father a then leapt onto the rapidly filling train. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends.

"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Jade told Albus. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."

Then she kissed Albus goodbye.

"See you at Christmas."

"Bye, Al." said George as his son hugged him.

"Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you're learned how. And don't let James wind you up." Jade said.

"What if I'm in Slytherin?"

The whisper was for his mother alone, and Jade knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.

Jade crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Jade's three children, Albus had inherited Lily's eyes.

"Albus Severus,"

Jade said quietly, so that nobody but George could hear, and he was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, "you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

"But just say-"

"- then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Really?"

" I was in Slytherin." said Jade.

She had never told any of her children that before, and she saw the wonder in Albus' face when she said it. But now the door were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders, Albus jumped into the carriage and George closed the door behind him.

Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Jade.

"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.

"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."

Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed.

"Yeah right! It's me and Jade they look at. Especially Jade." Henry said.

"Why exactly do they look at you dad?" Fred asked.

Jade and Henry froze for a second.

"They look at me because I survived the night to from your aunt protecting me. She went in front of me that night so technically I survived that night to." he said.

The train began to more, and Jade walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Jade kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching her son glide away from her.

The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Jade's hand was still raised in farewell.

"He'll be alright," murmured George.

As Jade looked at him, she lowered her hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on her forehead.

"I know he will."

The scar had not pained Jade for nineteen years.

Jade looked at Henry and he looked at her smiling. Then looked back at the kids on the train.

"Mum and dad would be proud of us." Henry said.

"Yeah, Dad, uncle Moony, uncle Wormy and uncle Padfoot would be proud of James for taking after them.'" Jade said.

They had stayed together like they promised and even though everything was fine, they would still protect each other.

Everyone in London knew how close they were now and knew they would stick together forever.


End file.
